Qantas Airways will cancel all international flights until March 2021 as the airlines industry continues to suffer from the coronavirus pandemic.
The airline announced that its inventory for its international flights until March of 2021 has been removed.
Qantas Airways will only run a few flights to New Zealand, according to travel website Executive Traveller. Those flights are presently grounded until mid-August of 2020.
The removal of inventory means that the routes can no longer be booked. It also precedes full cancellation, according to Conde Nast Traveler. Flights that have been previously booked were not cancelled, but no further bookings can be accepted. Qantas Airways was not able to respond to CNBC for comment at time of publishing.
Qantas Airways announced the suspension of all international flights until October, a date that may be extended to a full year. The reasons for the suspension were the lockdowns and closures of border across the world.
Alan Joyce, Qantas Airways CEO, previously said that the airline services may not have a substantial restart until at least July of next year.
In June, the airline announced the retirement of its six Boeing 747 planes, six months before originally planned. It also cut 20% of its workforce. Its fleet of double decker Airbus A380s is grounded for the next three years, according to Conde Nast.
“We have to position ourselves for several years when revenue will be much lower,” Qantas’ Joyce said in a statement in June that outlined a three-year roadmap to restructure the airline. “And this means becoming a much smaller airline in the short term.”
Industry losses
The airline industry may lose $84 billion in 2020, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Air travel dropped by 98% in April from last year.
The agency previously predicted 8.2 billion air travelers in 2037. However, the efforts made to curb the spread of the coronavirus badly hit air travel.
“We think airlines are going to probably lose an unprecedented $84 billion in 2020,” Brian Pearce, chief economist for IATA, told CNBC.
“We’re really only just starting to see countries negotiating bilateral openings of markets. For example, the Trans-Tasma bubble between Australia and New Zealand, China and Singapore, as well as China and Korea.”
Despite the situation, Pearce believes a recovery can happen in the second half of 2020.
Domestic air travel
Domestic air travel has resumed in the US, China, and Indonesia, but international travel remains volatile for now.
“It will be enough to kickstart the airline industry in some countries,” Pearce said. “For many airlines, they do depend on international air travel.”
According to Keith Mason, head of the Centre for Air Transport Management at Cranfield University, government assistance will be critical in ensuring the sustainability of the airline industry.
“We’re going to see a consolidation in the market where airlines that are fully independent are struggling to survive, are going to go out of business,” he told CNBC.
Meanwhile, some airlines are reportedly manifesting significant disruption, including UK’s Flybe, Virgin Australia, and Trans States Airlines in the US.
Governments are providing financial assistance to keep struggling carriers afloat, including the US, Australia, and Taiwan.
For IATA, the industry needs global government support amounting to $200 billion.
