TOURISM: When and how will we return to travel by plane after Covid-19?

Everyone wonders what phase 2 of the fight against coronavirus will look like, in which albeit slowly all sectors will have to try to resume their normal activity.
The biggest doubts naturally concern the areas of tourism and transport.
 Some airlines have already started drastic measures: Emirates in Dubai on some flights carried out rapid serological tests to check if there were positive passengers in Covid-19. But the real knot is another: most of the countries, from Portugal to Thailand, have closed their borders and even when there should be a partial reopening – not before June – however it is possible that some countries impose a 15-day quarantine period to those arriving from Italy.

On the beaches of Romagna, you try to think of a restart, they study the introduction of the figure of the beach steward (who helps keep your distance). In Lazio, the Region has given the green light to the bathers for the maintenance and cleaning of the beaches with the hope of opening the season when the lockdown is over. But what will change, at least for 2020, will be the very concept of travel. Large hotels will have to invest in operations to cyclically disinfect public places, but for example they risk disappearing, if not forever, for a long time, rituals such as the buffet meal with hundreds of tourists who gather and elbow.

In Ibiza, one of the tourist destinations par excellence, 4 thousand jobs have already been lost, part of the hotels have decided that it will not open this summer: even if in June or July the green light will be given to tourists, it will not be convenient for the owners of some hotels organize themselves to comply with all safety regulations. It is also difficult for large discos to accommodate tens of thousands of people in a closed place.

Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s number one, is convinced that what is being lost this year, will be recovered in 2021 because after the stop to travel everyone will be eager to leave. Some large operators, to those who had booked the holiday, are offering a refund or, alternatively, a voucher that will allow a holiday at very affordable prices for the post coronavirus. Many are choosing the second option, because the desire to travel prevails.

When will we return to travel?

More July than June. And above all, do not book anything that cannot be canceled for free. Because what the future has in store for the voices of holidays, tourism and travel is still indecipherable. In July we will go to the beach, probably in Italy, more easily in our region, but we will have to respect the distances

This is the question that many people ask themselves waiting for Phase 2 which will start on May 4th. And in particular, all those who because of the coronavirus and the blockages have had to give up booked trips and have requested refunds or vouchers from the companies.

While some European countries are preparing to reopen, the EU Commission has invited Schengen and associated Member States to extend restrictions on non-essential travel to Europe until 15 May.

This is because the experience of other countries most affected by the pandemic shows that anti-contagion measures take more than 30 days to be effective. The Commission invites countries to a coordinated and uniform approach on when borders will reopen. The stop to travel and the invitation to extend it until May 15 concerns 30 countries, namely those of the Schengen area plus Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Romania, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

At the moment the Italian government has not announced a date from which it will be possible to start traveling normally again, nor the ways in which we will do it. What is certain is that reservations for the summer within Europe are firm, and experts predict a gradual resumption of travel abroad from November-December, with a boom in departures expected from January 2021.

This does not mean that we will not be able to leave abroad until 2021, but that there are currently no directives in this regard. Experts believe that Phase 2 in Italy will last at least 6 months and we will not be able to return to normal in the summer, since the risk of a second wave of infections is around the corner.

Even once we start to leave the house again, we will have to get used to respecting the social distancing, to wear the mask, to take the means with limited access and to queue to enter the shops. As for travel, for now travel for tourism abroad and on the national territory is prohibited, 99% of the air fleets are on the ground (only some connections are open for emergency reasons) and the trains have remodeled the service to ensure only the minimum essential services.

The current provisions allow travel only in case of absolute necessity, which must be self-certified.

The vast majority of countries have blocked entries and arrivals until a later date, but some flight companies have communicated the end date of the suspension (which obviously could be extended). Both Air Canada and the Russian Aeroflot, for example, have announced the suspension of flights to / from Italy until 1 May 2020.
Phase 2, how will you travel by plane?

Among the hypotheses to be worked on there is, for example, the one that envisages leaving the middle seats empty, in order to guarantee passengers an adequate distance. The flights will therefore resume, but the turnout on them will be very reduced. There are those who are taking action in this direction. For example, Delta Airlines has announced that it is making major changes to flight standards by providing for a reduction in passengers. The initiative launched by American Airlines called Relaxed Seats, which provides for the blocking of 50% of the average seats on each plane, is also of the same content.
The conflicting opinions of low cost airlines

Even EasyJet, which has stopped since 30 March, has made it known that the hypothesis for which the recovery is being made is to leave the intermediate seats of the three available per side in the fuselage empty. Johan Lundgren, managing director of the low cost airline, presented the company’s relaunch plan: “We will work with the authorities and listen to customers’ opinions on what they believe is the right thing to do, especially during the restart period , a phase that we don’t know how long it will last. We are also thinking about aircraft sanitation systems that can be even more effective. ” On the other hand, the other famous low-cost airline, Ryanair, believes that leaving a place away from passengers is not an effective way to guarantee safety and moreover this would be difficult for airlines to sustain.