The post pandemic evolution of air travel

The industry has already adapted to new changes since the COVID-19 outbreak as the degree of safety protocols has been among the highest in the air travel industry since the pandemic. Right from reserving middle seats, to face shields, to enhanced security and safety measures across each step-new norms have been introduced across the industry, and a lot more trends are expected to come onto the fore in the near future.

To begin with, travelers will first prefer to venture out in the vicinity before prancing on a flight for a foreign trip. Domestic travel will be a preference for the majority of travelers in near future. The demand for unique, unexplored domestic destinations is set to shoot up and a lot more unheard domestic destinations will come to the fore. Airlines might look at increasing their routes and destinations across small cities as a result of this.

A similar trend was witnessed once the country was past the COVID-19 peak last year. Travelers ventured out within the country after the end to lockdown curbs. According to booking trends witnessed on our portal, Goa and Srinagar emerged as the most preferred destinations. However, with the second wave, booking for these sectors has drastically reduced by over 50 percent, with metropolitan cities continuing to cater to the majority of bookings in the domestic sector. Right after the growth of the second wave, lockdowns had started being declared across multiple cities resulting in a rise of last-minute travel and a surge in international travel for affluent Indians, especially to destinations such as the United Kingdom, right before it placed India in the travel red list.

Since the second wave, there has been an increased emphasis on safety and sanitisation within the airlines and enhanced health screenings have become the new normal at all airports. Airlines have been leaving out the middle seats for the passengers since the pandemic. However, this concept is not everlasting. Airlines are expected to strengthen their safety protocols through alternate measures as capping the seating capacity at 50 to 60 percent isn’t suggestive of economic sustainability. With a growing travel uncertainty, airlines are expected to allow more booking flexibility and focus more on booking customisations.

Current data indicates that airport processing times have ballooned to 3.0 hours during peak time with travel volumes at only about 30 percent of pre-COVID-19 levels. Modeling suggests that, without process improvements, the time spent in airport processes could reach 5.5 hours per trip at 75 percent pre-COVID-19 traffic levels, and 8.0 hours per trip at 100 percent pre-COVID-19 traffic levels.

To avoid such a situation, the aviation industry is expected to move into a digital shift and adopt newer platforms and technologies that enable travelers to move seamlessly through the airport and reduce airport processing time. The contactless passenger experience will be more in prominence and more advanced self-service options, and biometric devices might come into play in the near future, leading to a wider utilisation of technology throughout the entire journey. Airlines like Delta, Air France, and JetBlue have already started to roll out these biometric identification technologies and soon other airlines might follow their suit. Mobile apps such as that of EaseMyTrip will also play a crucial role in travelers’ lives as a safety point.

The role of vaccination also comes into the picture as airlines could come out with a diktat that would allow only travelers who are fully vaccinated to board flights. New tools such as digital health passports and vaccination visas might be introduced and required as an additional identification to verify one’s health status. Additionally, vaccine tourism is already in vogue and will continue to do so for a short period as people look to get on to a leisure trip under the pretext of getting vaccinated at the earliest.

The pandemic might also lead airports and travelers to embrace Artificial Intelligence as a part of air travel. Airports across countries are being beefed up with AI-enabled robots, as is already seen at the Pittsburgh international airport. The AI-enabled bots possess the ability to completely kill the virus with the use of Ultra Violet (UV) lights. AI can also be used to analyse and predict factors including queue length, vacant security lanes and vacant seating terminals, among others

Social distancing as a concept is most likely here to stay for a long time, and airports might look to bring in efficient solutions such as virtual queuing, security checkpoint reservation and crowd density monitoring, among others. Airports will more efficiently make use of their space and will continuously look to improve their hygiene standard and deploy more sanitation stations across.

Travelers have long been averse to the idea of travel insurance. But the idea has gained momentum since the pandemic and is set to vastly grow in the coming months. Most of the travel insurance companies have also expanded their offerings to cover travelers that get infected during the trip and other pandemic-related issues.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), global air travel will bounce back strongly by 2023 as countries roll out COVID-19 vaccines. It predicts that passenger numbers would recover to 52 percent of pre-COVID levels by the end of this year, reach 88 percent next year, and surpass pre-COVID levels by 5 percent in 2023.

With global passenger numbers set to grow to 5.6 billion by 2030, the airline industry will look to sail away as quickly as possible from the crisis that has massively derailed the global economy and further recognize consumer safety as the main approach in their policies for the near future. Flexibility, ingenuity and resilience will be the way forward for the aviation industry, and this will help in restoring passenger confidence and shape the next normal of travel, into the future.