Commentary: Domestic travel in Asia Pacific not hitting full speed yet as consumers slow to return to the skies

Commentary: Domestic travel in Asia Pacific not hitting full speed yet as consumers slow to return to the skies

SINGAPORE: Battered by the COVID-19 pandemic, Asias aviation and tourism industries have begun a lon..

SINGAPORE: Battered by the COVID-19 pandemic, Asias aviation and tourism industries have begun a long arduous recovery phase with the reopening of domestic markets.

Four of the main Asia Pacific domestic air transport markets have started recovering and several more are expected to follow in the coming weeks as lockdowns, movement control orders and states of emergency are lifted.

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China and South Korea were the first domestic markets to recover. The lessons so far from these first two examples is the recovery pace will be slow with fits and starts.

CHINESE TRAVELLING LESS

Chinas recovery started in March but stalled for most of April before picking up again for the Labour Day holiday period, which ran from Apr 30 to May 5, but only slightly.

READ: Commentary: Why lifting lockdowns and easing restrictions will be harder for some countries

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So far this month Chinas domestic passenger traffic is still down about 50 per cent compared to last year.

There are currently about 800,000 passengers flying within China every day.

While this is probably more than the number of passengers flying everywhere else in the world, it is concerning that Chinas domestic market after over two months is still only half recovered.

Business has quickly resumed in China but most of the leisure segment has not yet returned. It seems Chinese consumers are not that eager yet to travel, regardless of the mode of transportation.

Over the Labour Day holiday weekend, highway traffic was also down by about 50 per cent and railway traffic by nearly 60 per cent.

FILE PHOTO: A flight attendant assists a passenger to fill in his travel history following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, on a China Eastern Airlines flight at Shenzhen Baoan International Airport in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China May 19, 2020. REUTERS/Martin Pollard

Some had predicted a full or nearly full recovery by May. While Chinas domestic market will eventually recover fully, it could take several months as most of the population slowly starts to travel again.

SOUTH KOREAS RECOVERY GRADUAL

South Koreas domestic recovery also has been slow and uneven.

There was a sudden surge in domestic traffic over the May 1 holiday weekend with traffic between Seoul and Jeju Island, the worlds largest route, briefly back to nearly normal levels.

However, traffic has since slipped again and concerns about a second wave of COVID-19 cases in South Korea seems to be impacting demand.

READ: Commentary: Getting a flight ticket refund shouldn't be this hard

Similar to China, the recovery of South Koreas domestic market will be gradual and hinges on consumers fully regaining confidence.

South Korea has a much smaller domestic market with 33 million passengers in 2019, dominated by one route, compared to nearly 600 million for China.

VIETNAM BANKING ON QUICK RECOVERY

Other domestic markets in Asia and beyond will likely experience similar sluggish recoveries although every market will be somewhat different.

In some countries, citizens may be more comfortable with quickly resuming air travel compared to other countries.

Air fares are also a factor, potentially stimulating demand in some countries while remaining high in others.

For example, in Vietnam, airlines and hotels are confident a young population is eager to travel again and can be wooed with promotional deals.

Vietnam lifted lockdown measures and travel restrictions in late April. Airlines, which were only permitted to operate very limited flights during the lockdown, have quickly added back flights.

READ: Commentary: Vietnam defies the odds on COVID-19

Domestic traffic in Vietnam was still down in the first half of this month by more than 50 per cent compared to pre-crisis levels but airlines are aiming to achieve around 70 per cent of pre-crisis levels in June as more flights are added and routes that are currently still suspended are resumed.

Vietnamese tourists visit Ha Long bay after the Vietnamese government eased the lockdown following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Quang Ninh province, Vietnam May 19, 2020. REUTERS/Kham

The capacity ramp-up plan is driven partially by aggressive competition between Vietnams three airline groups, which are eager to get aircraft back in the air and generate some cash after several weeks of virtually no revenues.

Vietnams domestic market tripled in size in only seven years, from 12 million passengers in 2012 to 37 million passengers in 2019, with intense competition driving very low average fares.

It is too early to say if the Vietnamese domestic market can be further stimulated in the current environment.

Vietnam also has significantly improved highways in recent years and there are some indications many residents are now preferring to escape congested cities with road trips to nearby rural destinations using their cars rather than fly crowded airplanes to other cities.

SOCIAL DISTANCING MATTERS

Most recently, New Zealand lifted domestic travel restrictions on May 14 as it transitioned to alert level 2, also reopening restaurants, shops, cinemas and gyms.

Air New Zealand, which dominates the domestic market, is being relatively cautious with a gradual reopening of routes over the next few weeks. It plans to offer only 20 per cent of pre-crisis seat capacity in June.

Air New Zealand is not selling its cheapest domestic air fares due to social distancing, which leaves an empty seat next to passengers who are not travelling together.

Due to the empty seats Air New Zealand will be operating 30 per cent of flights in order to achieve 20 per cent of normal seat capacity.

Airlines in Vietnam, South Korea and China are still selling middle seats on their domestic flights – although in many cases passengers can elect to pay extra to ensure the middle seat next to them is not occupied.

The industry is now working to harmonize standards for the post COVID-19 environment.

READ: Commentary: Singapores aviation and tourism recovery will be very slow after COVID-19 but long-term outlook remains bright

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is lobbying against requiring airlines to block seats and is instead advocating other measures such as requiring masks for all passengers.

(Photo: Reuters)

Agreement on a new set of standards will become particularly important as international travel resumes later this year.

MORE DOMESTIC MARKETS TO OPEN

In the meantime, the focus is on domestic recoveries and adhering to temporary local regulations.

There are several major domestic markets in Asia Pacific that still have limited or no domestic traffic but should start recovering over the next several weeks.

Three major markets are currently entirely closed due to lockdowns or movement control orders that prevent domestic travel – India, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Limited domestic flights in India are resuming on May 25 while flights in Indonesia and the Philippines are tentatively slated to start resuming on Jun 1.

READ: Commentary: COVID-19, the biggest crisis ever for Singapores aviation industry and Singapore Airlines

Australia and Malaysia have limited domestic flights for essential travel. Most of Australias states are now permitting travel within states but restrictions on travelling between states are still in place.

Thailand partially reopened earlier this month with Phuket remaining closed and 14-day quarantine requirements still in place for domestic passengers arriving in some cities.

Japan also can be considered as partially opened although there were never any formal travel restrictions and domestic traffic never dropped as much as other markets.

However, domestic traffic declined significantly in the second half of April and first half of May due to emergency orders.

The emergency order was lifted for 39 or 47 prefectures on May 14 and for another three prefectures on May 21 but remain in place for the Tokyo region.

Domestic traffic in Japan should gradually increase, particularly once the remaining emergency orders are lifted, which is expected by the end of this month, providing yet another example of a recovering market.

WHY DOMESTIC RECOVERY MATTERS

While the recovery of the international market will benefit a much wider group of countries and have a bigger overall economic impact, domestic recovery is significant given the huge volumes of domestic passengers and tourists in Asia Pacific.

FILE PHOTO: An employee of Japan Airlines (JAL), wearing protective mask following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), scans the temperature to a passenger at the almost empty Kansai InternatioRead More – Source

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