FINALLY , A SUMMER FOR TRAVEL, BUT…. Emirates airline expects to move up to 550,000 passengers through the summer breaks and holiday trips over the weeks of June and July, and making sure to have 1 million by way of seating capacity available for them. This then will be the summer when travel puts on some serious heft, with memories of restrictions and various checkup requirements receding into memory. And on Monday, IATA, the air industry grouping, confirmed that airlines would make headway dropping their combined losses to $9 billion against upwards of $40 billion last year. Here too, summer travel will provide ballast in getting airlines closer to breakeven – and profits. Against this backdrop, the news from the UK comes across as a spoiler, with more airlines announcing cuts to their summer schedules. Recovery for the airline industry after the kind of hit the pandemic created needs to be on an even keel. If the UK airlines and authorities are going slow on the recovery path, it won’t help. [COMMENT BY: Manoj Nair, Business Editor]
Dubai Media Office