While predicting greater stability in the number of bookings over the next few weeks, those at the helm of major European Airlines, including Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary, head of IAG – Willie Walsh and easyJet’s CEO Johan Lundgren, have seen a considerable tail-off in demand for flights to certain locations owing to the worldwide spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).
Flights to Italy, home to Europe’s largest outbreak of the disease, have been hardest hit, though if demand follows a similar pattern to that of Asia, that too should stabilize. O’Leary was confident that if the current crisis stabilizes, bookings will soon recover, hinting at the fact that Ryanair would not be afraid to discount summer prices to kick-start the season. While chiefs from Airbus and Boeing, the world’s two largest plane manufacturers, have said that it was too early to say how or if the outbreak of COVID-19 was affecting aircraft sales, both Walsh and O’Leary agreed that if the price was cheap enough, there would always be demand for aircraft.
Lufthansa has been particularly hard hit by the disease outbreak with over a quarter of its short-haul fleet being grounded. Additionally, carriers have turned to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to relax rules if carriers cancel aircraft routes for a prolonged period of time, rules which can see the loss of the landing and take-off slot. Meantime, IAG’s Willie Walsh has been quick to suggest that any airlines left struggling, financially, as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak should not be allowed to receive any governmental aid, though easyJet’s Johan Lundgren was of the opposite opinion.
