DEMAND KILLER: Fear of quarantine quells travel recovery

Consumers’ fear of quarantine is as big an obstacle to the resumption of travel as being infected with the coronavirus, says a new survey by IATA. “Quarantine is a demand killer. Keeping borders closed prolongs the pain by causing economic hardship well beyond airlines,” says IATA’s Director General and CEO Alexandre de Juniac, who calls mandatory traveller isolation one of the biggest blockers to industry recovery.

Some 85% of international travellers polled by the airline association in June reported concern for being quarantined while travelling, a similar level of concern to those reporting general concern for catching the virus when travelling (84%). Moreover, among the measures that travellers were willing to take in adapting to travel during or after the pandemic, only 17% reported that they were will willing to undergo quarantine.

“If governments want to re-start their tourism sectors, alternative risk-based measures are needed,” de Juniac says. “Many are built into the ICAO Take-off guidelines, like health screening before departure to discourage symptomatic people from travelling. Airlines are helping this effort with flexible rebooking policies. In these last days we have seen the UK and the EU announce risk-based calculations for opening their borders. And other countries have chosen testing options. Where there is a will to open up, there are ways to do it responsibly,” says de Juniac.

The IATA survey, which was conducted across 11 countries found that 77% of respondents reported washing their hands more frequently, 71% avoiding large meetings and 67% having worn a facemask in public. Some 58% of those surveyed said that they have avoided air travel, with 33% suggesting that they will avoid travel in future as a continued measure to reduce the risk of catching COVID-19

Travellers identified their top three concerns as follows:

At the airport

1. Being in a crowded bus/train on the way to the aircraft (59%)
2. Queuing at check-in/security/border control or boarding (42%)
3. Using airport restrooms/toilet facilities (38%)

On board aircraft

1. Sitting next to someone who might be infected (65%)
2. Using restrooms/toilet facilities (42%)
3. Breathing the air on the plane (37%)

When asked to rank the top three measures that would make them feel safer,
37% cited COVID-19 screening at departure airports,
34% agreed with mandatory wearing of facemasks,
33% noted social distancing measures on aircraft.

Passengers themselves displayed a willingness to play a role in keeping flying safe by:

• Undergoing temperature checks (43%)
• Wearing a mask during travel (42%)
• Checking-in online to minimize interactions at the airport (40%)
• Taking a COVID-19 test prior to travel (39%)
• Sanitizing their seating area (38%).

“People are clearly concerned about COVID-19 when travelling. But they are also reassured by the practical measures being introduced by governments and the industry under the Take-off guidance developed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). These include mask-wearing, the introduction of contactless technology in travel processes and screening measures. This tells us that we are on the right track to restoring confidence in travel. But it will take time. To have maximum effect, it is critical that governments deploy these measures globally,” says de Juniac.

The survey also pointed to some key issues in restoring confidence where IATA says the industry will need to communicate pertinent facts more effectively to assuage travellers’ two top on board concerns:

Cabin air quality: Travellers have not made up their minds about cabin air quality. While 57% of travellers believed that air quality is dangerous, 55% also responded that they understood that it was as clean as the air in a hospital operating theatre. The quality of air in modern aircraft is, in fact, far better than most other enclosed environments, says IATA, being exchanged with fresh air every 2-3 minutes in contrast to air in most office buildings being exchanged 2-3 times per hour. Moreover, High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters capture well over 99.999% of germs, including the Coronavirus.

Social distancing: ICAO Take-off guidance advises wearing face coverings when social distancing is not possible. Additionally, while passengers are sitting in close proximity on board, the cabin air flow is from ceiling to floor, thereby limiting the potential spread of viruses or germs backwards or forwards in the cabin. There are several other natural barriers to the transmission of the virus on board, including the forward orientation of passengers (limiting face-to-face interaction), seatbacks that limit transmission from row-to-row, and the limited movement of passengers in the cabin.

“It is no secret that passengers have concerns about the risk of transmission onboard,” says de Juniac. “No environment is risk free, but few environments are as controlled as the aircraft cabin. And we need to make sure that travellers understand that.”

No quick solution

While nearly half of those surveyed (45%) indicated they would return to travel within a few months of the pandemic subsiding, this is a significant drop from the 61% recorded in the April survey.

When travel does resume after the pandemic, a majority of survey respondents said they plan to visit family and friends (57%), vacation (56%) or to do business (55%). However, 66% said that they would travel less for leisure and business in the post-pandemic world and 64% indicated that they would postpone travel until economic factors improved (personal and broader).

“This crisis could have a very long shadow,” warns de Juniac. “Passengers are telling us that it will take time before they return to their old travel habits (and) many airlines are not planning for demand to return to 2019 levels until 2023 or 2024…”