On Plugged In…
Airlines brace …
for a long and bumpy ride …
as the industry struggles …
to stay financially aloft …
amid a global health crisis.
With more travelers …
staying home ...
popular tourist destinations …
and hotels …
are desperately trying to survive …
an extended …
and unprofitable low season.
The ripple effects …
of limited travel …
on the global economy …
And what to expect …
Once travelers …
Feel safe enough to fly …
On Plugged In…
Pandemic Travel, Turbulence.
(Greta Van Susteren)
Hello and welcome to Plugged In.
I’m Greta Van Susteren reporting from Washington DC.
The coronavirus pandemic is expected to cost one-trillion dollars in losses to the world’s travel and tourism business.
A recent United Nations report estimates 100-million jobs tied to the travel industry are under threat.
In the United States, tens of thousands of airlines workers face losing their jobs as pandemic economic aid to the airlines runs out.
Before this pandemic U.S. airlines were carrying two and a half million passengers a day.
It plunged as much as 96 percent at the height of the pandemic.
Now, passenger volume remains around 70 percent lower than this time last year.
Booked revenue is down 83 percent.
About a third of airline fleets sit idle ..
And US airlines are collectively losing more than 5 billion dollars of cash each month according to the advocacy group Airlines for America.
No one knows for sure when air travel will return to normal.
Many countries still have travel restrictions in place for non-essential travel including mandatory quarantine requirements for foreign visitors.
Some experts think it could take Africa’s airline industry three years to rebound.
From Johannesburg, VOA’s Anita Powell says the pandemic is allowing airlines in Africa to consider a new way forward.
(Air Travel Woes)
Africa’s airlines have been grounded for months as nations have shut their borders to try to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Now, as countries prepare to reopen their skies, the airlines cannot simply pick up where they left off, industry experts say.
Since March, the livelihoods of some 3.3 million people -- not just pilots, but engineers, mechanics and support staff -- have hung in the balance as air carriers saw their income shrivel and their future grow increasingly uncertain.
It is, says the head of one of Africa’s largest airline associations, a grim picture.
((Chris Zweigenthal, CEO, Airlines Association of Southern Africa))
“By the middle of April, you had scheduled air traffic down at 95 percent below what was the February 2020 levels. So, the airlines had to go into a cash preservation system where they had to, obviously, conserve cash and look at ways of reducing costs. And one of the major areas without obviously looked at reducing costs was in the area of, unfortunately, their employees.”
((NARRATOR))
Pilot Carl Bollweg knows that firsthand. Right before South Africa announced its national lockdown, the veteran pilot flew his last flight for South African Airways’ domestic service. At 58, he says, he’s made peace with the fact that his long career ended that day, with a whimper.
((Carl Bollweg, President, Airline Pilots' Association South Africa))
“It was on the 15th of March. (long pause) Yeah. So, yeah. Actually, I didn't know that it would have been my last flight. ((ANITA: And where did you go?)) I can't remember now -- I was hoping you wouldn't ask that question. ((laughs)) I think it was … I’ll have to check in my logbook.”
((NARRATOR))
But, Zweigenthal says, this could be a chance for the industry to make beneficial changes.
Some airlines, he says, like continental leader Ethiopian Airlines, have converted passenger planes into cargo aircraft to meet the continent’s continuing demand for goods, because of a lack of transport infrastructure on the ground.
Across the industry, he says, airlines are looking at how to build a diverse workforce.
And, he says, in coming months, passengers should expect to be courted by airlines as they try to win them back.
((Chris Zweigenthal, CEO, Airlines Association of Southern Africa))
“There’s going to be a lot of marketing and convincing of the passengers that it is safe to fly, that it is healthy to fly. And from that perspective, you will see initially quite a lot of low fares in the market.”
((NARRATOR))
He predicts that in South Africa, domestic travel will rebound by mid-2021. International travel will take longer -- until 2023, or even 2024.
But waiting in the wings are a new, hopeful group of staff like 28-eight-year-old flight instructor Kelly Slingers.
((Kelly Slingers, Instructor, Eagle Air Flight School))
“I think we're a very adaptable industry. If you look at 9/11, you know, I think there's a lot of undecidedness right now, people are scared. But in the wake of 9/11, the industry came back. You know, took a couple of years to recover. And I think that's exactly what will happen to the aviation industry. We will recover.”
((NARRATOR))
And when it does, she says, the sky is the limit. Anita Powell, VOA News, Johannesburg.
(Greta)
While passenger volume is not expected to rebound anytime soon demand for air cargo and freight transport is making a comeback.
Can airlines financially outlast the pandemic?
Brian Pearce is the chief economist for the International Air Transport Association.
We spoke about the broader financial outlook for the aviation industry.
(Greta Interviews Brian Pearce, IATA Chief Economist)
BP: Actually the cargo business is the one bright spot in the aviation industry at the moment. Volumes are down, as I say, the ton kilometres shipped in August were down 12 percent compared to last year. But because of the very strong yields, revenues are strong.
So the cargo businesses are actually doing fairly well. And the you know, the integrators, the FedExes of the world, you know, there's big demand for e-commerce at the moment. So you know that those businesses are in much better shape than the passenger business.
GVS: Have the cargo rates changed? Is it more expensive, for instance, to ship now or in an airplane?
BP: It is. It is. And that's really a product of dramatic shortage of capacity. In normal times, we would ship half of the cargo volumes in the belly, bellies of passenger aircraft. Most of the passenger aircraft fleet is still grounded, particularly the wide-bodied aircraft that typically operate on long haul services. So there's actually a really rather dramatic shortage of capacity at the moment for air cargo.
GVS: During the height of this, is there any prioritization of what you carry?
BP: Yeah, I think I think there is. I think there is-I mean the airlines work very closely with the shippers and the freight for the community.
You know clearly the industry been really important in getting medical supplies and personal protective equipment around from factories across the world. And of course, you know, once we get a vaccine, the industry is going to play a critical role in getting the vaccine around in sufficient quantities and quickly so that we can get back to a more normal, normal environment.
GVS: Is everything pretty much standard? I mean, are the same problems you have in United States you have in the African continent, the European continent? I mean, everything sort of, everyone has sort of the same problems And there are not service problems in a particular region of the world right now?
BP: Well, I think every country has its own unique characteristics and business environment, but aviation is one of those industries where you need consistent worldwide standards for the network to operate effectively. You know, as I say, the number one priority always is safety. So that means that everything you know, all of the fuel (inaudible), the treatment of the aircraft the treatment of the crew has to be consistent wherever you fly. And that's and that's carrying on today.
GVS: And what about the testing for COVID for pilots? I mean, on these cargo flights -when do they get tested? How often do they get tested and are all that-- Is that sort of standard procedure throughout the world?
BP: Well, this is one of the issues that we're battling on at the moment to get standardized testing throughout the world, not just for pilots, but for the travelling public as well. You know, one of the problems that the industry is facing, the reason why there aren't more aircraft available to carry cargo is that some governments are opening up their borders, but with quarantine requirements. And what we found is that passengers just won't fly if there's a quarantine. It's effectively closing, closing the border. We think testing is really the way to open up borders in a way that would prevent a country importing COVID cases which is what, justifiably, governments are concerned about. But there are some very promising testing regimes coming up. One of the problems with the standard PCR test is that it takes a couple of days before the results are back. And in an industry where you need quick turnaround times, that's really just not practical. But these new antigen tests offer the prospect of getting tests back very quickly at a fraction of the cost of the PCR tests. So we're very much pushing that as a potential solution to these closed borders.
(Greta)
Recent COVID spikes and new health restrictions in Europe have popular tourist destinations from museums in Paris to the beaches of Greece under-booked and in the red.
Germany’s national airline Lufthansa is planning more staff cuts on top of 22-thousand layoffs previously announced and despite a June, 10.5-billion-dollar bailout from the German government. It is also grounding segments of its fleet.
VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo has more.
(Lufthansa Layoffs)
With the outlook for international air travel dim because of the continuing pandemic, Lufthansa says it now expects to operate at only 20%-30% of capacity for the remainder of the year and plans to cut more jobs.
The move by the German airline group comes as a surprise to retired United Airlines pilot and expert, Ross Aimer.
((Ross Aimer, CEO, Aero Consulting Experts))
“Lufthansa is one of the strongest airlines in terms of finances and passenger satisfaction, route structure. So that comes as kind of a surprise. But you can imagine if Lufthansa is facing this horrific dilemma, other airlines that don't have Lufthansa's strengths, can you imagine what happens to them?”
((NARRATOR))
One of the unions representing Lufthansa employees criticized plans to cut staff but said it’s open for more talks with the airline, which in June got a $10.5 billion ((9 billion euros)) state bailout.
The airline group says it wants to reduce the nearly $584 million in cash it has been spending every month.
University of Reading Law School’s Jorge Guira explains.
((Jorge Guira, Professor, University of Reading Law School))
“Airplanes are typically leased but you have to pay money to the leasing companies. You also have to pay airports to have space in which you can land And you add those things up, with the amount of staff that you have, that’s a lot of money which is overhead which any well-run airline has. And Lufthansa is considered to be a well-run airline.”
((NARRATOR))
With fewer people flying, the airline is also making changes to its fleet – withdrawing some from service.
((Jorge Guira, Professor, University of Reading Law School))
“The reason for that is, they clearly expect very low demand for a certain period of time. When you have this level of shock, where people are just not ready for this kind of big problem, what do you do?”
((NARRATOR))
But after cutting jobs, there’s a dilemma, say experts such as Aimer: what happens after the pandemic when people start traveling again.
((Ross Aimer, CEO, Aero Consulting Experts))
“If and when this nightmare is over and passengers have enough confidence coming back, the airlines will find themselves without pilots. Because just like aircraft into storage, you're putting people into storage and to get them back into working condition, it takes a long time and it's very expensive.”
((NARRATOR))
A summer bump in vacation travel proved short-lived in Europe, as coronavirus infection rates surged again in Spain, France and elsewhere, prompting new travel curbs and quarantines.
Global airlines called for airport COVID-19 tests for all departing international passengers to replace the mandatory quarantines, blamed for exacerbating the travel slump.
International Air Transport Association head, Alexandre de Juniac.
((Alexandre de Juniac, Director General, International Air Transport Association))
"A systematic testing of all passengers at departure would guarantee that you fly people who are not infected by the virus, or with the risk of being infected which is very, very limited by the sensitivity of the test."
((NARRATOR))
Lufthansa announced it plans to expand coronavirus on-the-spot tests for passengers before boarding – a measure it deems essential to reviving global air travel. Mariama Diallo VOA News.
(Greta)
Back in March, U.S. airlines received 25-billion dollars in government assistance to keep paying airline workers through October first.
With government relief funds running out - thousands of pilots, mechanics and airline employees face an uncertain future as analysts say a return to peak air travel could take years.
I spoke with Nick Calio, President and C-E-O of the advocacy group “Airlines for America” for an update on the state of the airline industry.
(Greta Interviews Nick Calio, Airlines for America)
NC: We're a little bit different than some other industries in that our employees, you can't send them away and then just bring them back and have them start working. From pilots to flight attendants, gate agents even and the machinists down below the aircraft, they all have to be on a constant rotating basis, retrained and recertified. So if I'm a pilot or a flight attendant and you furlough me for three months, you can't just throw me the keys to the airplane and say start it up on day one. It takes time.
GVS: What are you doing with all your aircraft? Because I know not all the aircraft is being used.
NC: That's a very good question. Earlier in the summer, over 50 percent of the fleet was parked wing to wing in the desert or on any runway of those available. Right now, it’s about 33 percent. And we've also retired a lot of old, older airplanes. So our fleet is much smaller than it was.
GVS: What's being done for consumer confidence?
NC: We've been doing a lot. The question is whether it breaks through because people are concerned. But some basic facts: every one of our carriers has undertaken programs. At “A for A,” we've got the fly healthy, fly smart. Each of the different airlines, as you know, have, you have to do a health declaration before you when you check in. You have to wear a face mask and we're enforcing that requirement. Face mask is the single best thing you can probably do for yourself, you know whether you're on an aircraft or anywhere else. We've significantly enhanced the cleaning. There's electrostatic flogging and cleaning that happens in many cases between each flight. All of the touch points are wiped down. And in addition to that, we have what are called HEPA filters on the airplane, which most people don't know about. So if you go into an ICU unit, they have HEPA filters and HEPA filters will clean any bacteria or virus out of ninety nine point up to ninety nine point percent of it. And that's, so on that aircraft if you sit there, Your air is refreshed about once every two minutes. So that combination of it's called, there's layers, we've taken a multi layered risk approach. And with each layer you reduce the risk more and more. And we're trying to educate the public about that.
GVS: What are the airlines doing in terms of looking to the extent that they do do any meal service on them? What precautions, what safety measures are taken?
NC: Individually packaged, no bottle service, so to speak, which is, you know, difficult for many people. But rather than just having, you know the flight attendants go down the aisles on a single cart, they pass out the meals in bags, individually wrapped again, one by one. And trying to reduce the touch points for everything all along the way on the entire flight experience.
GVS: Suppose that I take American Airlines to London and I want to go on to the African continent. I might take another airlines, might take a national airlines out of Africa. Is there any sort of level of confidence or are you working with what I call foreign carriers, obviously if you're watching this from another part of the world it wouldn't be a foreign, but a carrier, an international carrier, are there any sort of agreements being made or are you working together?
NC: Yes, working through the International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Air Transport Association. And then there are other associations like ours, and there's a lot of information sharing. There's been standard setting. You know, look at the minimal, you know the procedures to keep passengers safe and make it safe to fly. So yes, there is kind of a worldwide recognition of what needs to be done and how you can do it.
GVS: All right. If you get no money, no help from the federal government. Tell me what happens.
NC: What's gonna happen is you're immediately going to have somewhere in the range of one hundred thousand people out of their jobs without health insurance looking to get unemployment. And you know that there's basically what it comes down to is there's gonna be a huge human toll here. And I know that and we know that a lot of people are out of their jobs. But it's not necessary here to put these people out of their jobs when they're you know they're caring for sick parents, sick spouses. And it's poignant and it's very difficult. So that's going to happen. Number one, there's the human toll. And then there's the economic toll which means if you want to leave Washington to go somewhere, you're going to have a lot harder time getting a flight. That's already the case if you've tried, because there are so many fewer flights. and you're going to be connecting a lot more. A lot of service will be reduced or cut where there is less demand or no demand or it's not economic to fly because you can't do that and sustain yourself as a company. So a lot of smaller communities, medium sized communities can be impacted, but also larger communities.
(Greta)
As airlines look to cut costs industry analysts say women especially female pilots will be disproportionately impacted.
Captain Tammie Jo Shults was among the first female fighter pilots to serve in the U.S. military.
She made headlines in 2018 after she landed a Southwest Airlines passenger plane, that mid-flight suffered a catastrophic engine failure.
We spoke earlier about her career and how airline safety and mechanics have improved.
(Greta Interviews Capt. Tammie Jo Shults, author, retired pilot)
GVS: As a pilot for a number of years, would you feel safe, getting on an airplane with the COVID virus right now as a passenger?
TJS: Oh, absolutely. I flew before the pandemic was identified and through it and have not had any issue. You know one of the things that I think the general public may not know and should be encouraged by is the fact that airplanes in the back in the cabin, the airflow is such that there's new a new cabin of air every two to three minutes. It even exceeds what's done in a, in a hospital operating room. So you have this great airflow. There's certainly precautions taken some airlines, I know, like Southwest has determined we will leave the middle seat unsold so that if you want to travel and sit with your family, you certainly May, but if you want to sit a little more isolated, you can do that too, there's extra cleaning done, not only at night, but in between every single flight. So, I would say, if you have a chance to go visit someone you've been wanting to. This is a great time. There's not a lot of congestion in lines and things like that. So, this is really a great time.
GVS: What's your sort of projection is going to happen to passenger the passenger business?
TJS: Well, unless people have a place to go, they're not going to buy a ticket. So, we will have to get back to work and open up our, our economy to have what we need for airlines and one of the things that I think I know it's easy for us to forget that, that freedom of just hopping on their plane and going from one coast to the other to see a loved one to have a business meeting face to face which will never be replaced by Hollywood Squares of zoom, you know, those things, if we don't use them, we will lose them. And so, that freedom to do that is dependent on using it. And, so, we will need to get, get back into the rhythm of life, to keep those moving.
GVS: I've always been told that you should keep, you know, want to let your car sit, that you need to drive your car, don't let it sit for a year, a lot of planes right now are sitting. Is that right, is that a is that an issue?
TJS: No, and I'll tell you why because there is such a tight protocol on how you put a airplane to bed for a while so your, you know they drain lines, they, they seal different places they, they really take a very microscopic approach to putting an airplane to sleep for a while, so when that starts up there will be engines run there will be you know there's all kinds of protocols to bringing them back to life. So, they are, they are taken care of, much better than what we do when we park cars, even in a garage
GVS: Tammie, tell me what is sort of the general impact of COVID on the airline industry step back and tell me what you see?
TJS: Sure, it's, it's what it is, in all businesses when you close the doors, then there's no business and, and the airlines have been hit, just as hard maybe a little harder in that, you know, they were required to keep functioning keep their, their assets moving - gas and people and airplanes moving so you know it's, it's been hit hard. There's certainly been some help from the federal government but we we need passengers
(Greta)
Fewer passengers is forcing some air carriers to find new ways to bring in revenue.
One idea that has caught on in Asia and Australia is the so-called “flight to nowhere”
Plugged In’s Elizabeth Cherneff explains.
(Report by Elizabeth Cherneff)
A seven-hour flight, sold out in ten minutes.
That’s according to Australia’s Qantas Airways, on the carrier’s sightseeing trips that take off and land in the same place.
Passengers must wear masks and follow health protocols such as temperature checks.
But several Asian countries with fewer Covid-19 cases are capitalizing on the trend.
Travelers from Taiwan say flying over neighboring South Korea recaptures the joy of traveling.
(Traveller)
"I think it (this trip) is very interesting. Because of the pandemic we can only go on a fake trip. I've heard of such fake trips before so I'm very curious about it. This time it happens to be a trip to the Jeju Island so I would like to try it, and also experience some traditional Korean events and food."
((NARRATOR))
With fares costing up to $2,000 USD per ticket, the experience comes at a cost.
Critics say the trips are unnecessary and harmful to the environment.
For pandemic-weary passengers anxious to leave home, the chance to fly again is all about the journey, and not the destination. Elizabeth Cherneff, VOA News, Washington.
(USA Votes)
(Greta)
Dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and economic recovery were among the topics at the first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.
VOA’s Michael O’ Sullivan recaps the highlights from the debate in Cleveland, Ohio.
(Trump-Biden Debate)
A genial start to the debate, which quickly became a heated exchange over topics, including COVID-19, which has claimed one million lives globally and more than 200,000 in the United States.
(((Joe Biden, Democratic Presidential Candidate))
“The president has no plan. He hasn’t laid out anything. He knew all the way back in February how serious this crisis was.”
((NARRATOR))
Trump said he has led an effective response.
((President Donald Trump, Republican Candidate))
“We got the gowns, we got the masks, we made the ventilators. You wouldn’t have made ventilators. And now we’re weeks away from a vaccine.”
((NARRATOR))
Biden blasted Trump’s efforts to end the Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare, which provides health care insurance to some 20 million people.
Trump said the law is unconstitutional and limits consumer choice. Biden says voters can keep their private health plans under his proposed expansion of Obamacare.
((Joe Biden, Democratic Presidential Candidate))
“They can, they do, they will under my proposal.”
((NARRATOR))
The exchange quickly degenerated as each man talked over the other ...
((President Donald Trump, Republican Candidate))
"Obamacare is no good. We made it better."
((NARRATOR))
Trump accusing Biden of pursuing socialized medicine.
Another point of contention: Trump’s choice to fill a seat on the US Supreme Court left vacant by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a liberal icon.
Trump nominated conservative judge Amy Coney Barrett, launching a confirmation process when voting has already begun in many states.
Biden says whoever wins in November should fill Ginsburg’s seat.
((Joe Biden, Democratic Presidential Candidate))
“The American people have a right to have a say in who the Supreme Court nominee is.”
((NARRATOR))
Trump responded that it’s his duty to name a replacement regardless of the timing.
((President Donald Trump, Republican Presidential Candidate))
“We won the election and therefore we have the right to choose her.”
A Trump campaign official says he’s pleased with the debate.
((Tim Murtaugh, Communications Director, Trump 2020))
“I think what viewers saw was President Trump who was in command of every moment of the debate and I think they saw a weak Joe Biden most of the time, spent a lot of time looking around for assistance from the moderator.”
((NARRATOR))
Analysts slammed the free-for-all.
((Jeremy Mayer, George Mason University))
“When Biden spoke, so many times he would get 10, 20, 30 seconds into a coherent point and then he’d be interrupted over and over and over again by the President. So to ask who won the debate is almost meaningless because the President made sure there actually was no presidential debate as we have come to know them.”
((NARRATOR))
With round one finished, two more debates are scheduled for October.
Mike O’Sullivan, VOA News, Los Angeles.
(Greta)
Next week, we will take a closer look at the presidential debates.
Thank you to this week’s guests:
Brian Pearce…
Nick Calio…
And Tammie Jo Shults.
For the latest news visit our website:
VOANews.com.
And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Greta.
Thank you for being Plugged In.
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