September figures for Europe’s biggest hub airports show passenger traffic down more than 80% on previous year levels, according to data for London Heathrow, Frankfurt Airport and Paris Charles de Gaulle. Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, on 12 October disclosed its passenger numbers fell 81.5% to 1.26 million in September. Domestic and European passenger levels were down 75% and 72% respectively, and by almost 95% on the key transatlantic market. The decline on previous year passenger levels at Heathrow was in line with the reduction reported in August. French airport operator Aeroports de Paris today disclosed passenger numbers at Europe’s second biggest hub, Paris Charles de Gaulle, were down 80% at 1.35 million. Passenger levels were down 60% at its other Paris airport Orly, which had closed totally between April and June at the height of the pandemic, in handling just over a million passengers in September. It was a similar story at Frankfurt Airport, Europe’s fourth biggest airport in 2019. Passenger numbers were down 83% in September compared with the same month in 2019 at 1.15 million. Transatlantic passengers were down 91% in September. The airport’s owner Fraport, which operates or has interests in several airports across the globe, reported some brighter traffic performances in September because of some holiday traffic. Passenger levels were 61% down across its Greek airports - which include Rhodes and Thessaloniki - down 53% at Turkish airport Antalya, 29% lower at St Petersburg and under 10% down at Chinese airport Xi’an in September. Big hubs in Europe have been particularly hard hit by the collapse in demand for business travel, as well as hub and spoke traffic, as travel restrictions to counter the pandemic continue to stifle demand.

Source: Cirium

Singapore Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung has offered a cautious outlook for air travel amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In an interview with Bloomberg television, Ong described the trade-off leaders faced in March, when Covid-19 was less understood and there was a shortage of testing capacity. “Back in March it was a very stark trade-off,” he says. “Either you close your borders and suffer economic consequences, or you open up, get infected with the virus, and you still have economic consequences.” In March, Singapore could only conduct 2,000 tests daily, mainly in hospitals or for acute cases. Singapore still faces the same trade-off, but it is less stark given that the virus is well under control locally, with negligible transmission rates, and testing capacity is no longer as much of a constraint, with Singapore conducting 30,000 tests daily, going up to 40,000 in November. “A good proportion of tests will be dedicated to airport usage, and the airport will set up its own dedicated test lab,” says Ong. “With this we can strike a better balance between travel and epidemic control.” He acknowledged that the coronavirus pandemic has been extremely challenging for Singapore Airlines and Changi Airport. On the decision to stop development of the planned Terminal 5 for two years, Ong said that the assumptions behind the plan have “totally changed.” Moving forward, he said the country plans to gradually open its borders and keep air links with key destinations. “We can’t wait around for the vaccine to happen,” he says. He adds that a widely available vaccine is essential, and that this could happen in one year to 18 months. “When there is a vaccine and it is widely available around the world and people gain confidence to travel again and visit other countries, then we’ll have aviation almost fully on his feet again. How long would that take? I can’t make a guess. I would say minimally a couple of years.”

Source: Cirium

Lufthansa will bring four Airbus A350-900s out of storage to operate in place of the less fuel-efficient Boeing 747-8 and Airbus A340-300 aircraft deployed on three long-haul routes from Frankfurt. The German carrier says it will use A350s for flights from Frankfurt to Chicago and Los Angeles until the end of March. The Airbus jets are "temporarily replacing" 747-8 on those US routes. From December, Lufthansa will deploy the A350 instead of the A340-300 on its Frankfurt-Tokyo Haneda route. Munich-based crew will operate the A350 flights from Frankfurt. Lufthansa says the A350 consumes about 12% less fuel and emits less carbon dioxide than the 747-8. "By operating the A350-900 in Frankfurt, the fleet will be optimally used in an efficient and sustainable way under the current circumstances," adds the airline. It has 16 A350-900s, all of which are based in Munich. However, citing the "sharp reduction" in the number of flights amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the carrier says it will operate only seven A350s from Munich initially in the winter period, on routes to North America and Asia. Lufthansa had said last month that it intended to keep its 747-8s in service while grounding all its Airbus A380s amid a stepped-up fleet-reduction effort and a wider industry trend toward smaller long-haul twinjets. On 21 September, the carrier disclosed its decision to retire 150 aircraft by the middle of the decade – 50 more than previously announced. Eight parked A380s have been "removed from planning" and will only be reactivated in the event of an "unexpectedly rapid market recovery".

Source: Cirium