Like an air of déjà vu ... With restrictive measures tightening and borders closing again, the airline industry is worried about the spread of the Omicron variant.
The sector, which thought it had already experienced the worst, sees the start of the year 2022 with concern.
Already, flights have been canceled.
Traffic restrictions that hamper travel.
The airlines are facing a ban on unreasonable travelers from the UK to France and Germany and the closure of Morocco's borders, among other multiple restrictions put in place in recent weeks in an attempt to curb the spread of Omicron, more contagious than the previous strains of the virus responsible for Covid-19.
Figures that worry.
The Association of European Airports (ACI Europe) estimated that passenger traffic had collapsed by 20% in the equipment of its members from November 24, when the WHO announced that it had identified the new variant in South Africa. .
At the same time, the filling rate of devices slipped from 66% to 54%, according to ACI Europe, which nevertheless noticed, like Eurocontrol, an increase in attendance at the start of the Christmas season (+ 9% on a week).
Once the holidays are over, "there is no doubt that Omicron will have adverse consequences on passenger traffic in the first quarter of 2022", worried the CEO of ACI Europe.
Flights already canceled.
Noting "a sharp drop in reservations" from mid-January to February due to the spread of the variant, Lufthansa has decided to cancel some 33,000 flights, or 10% of the winter program, said Thursday the CEO of the German company. The day before, Ryanair, the largest European airline by the number of passengers, warned that its annual loss would probably be double what it expected, again due to a "sudden" slowdown in bookings. At Air France, even if there is "a slight slowdown in reservations", no cancellations have yet been announced. Omicron also results in operational headaches for companies: the Scandinavian SAS had to cancel dozens of flights on Tuesday and Wednesday, due to the absence of sick employees.Lufthansa suffers the same problem on its long-haul flights.
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What future ?
This new cold snap in the sector comes as it hoped in 2022 to continue to find its customers, two years after suffering the worst shock in its history, even if a return to the pre-Covid situation was not envisaged before. 2024, or even 2027 depending on the area.
Even before Omicron was identified, Iata warned that European airlines would close 2021 with a loss of $ 20.9 billion, and saw them stay in the red of $ 9.2 billion in 2022.
