A Qatar Airways plane takes off from Doha Hamad International Airport on July 20, 2017.
STRINGER | AFP | Getty Images
The executive director of an iconic Middle East airline said the requirement for Covid-19 vaccinations is likely to be a trend in air travel as the industry tries to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
“In the short term, yes, I believe the vaccine passport will be useful in giving confidence to both governments and passengers in our industry to start traveling again,” Qatar Airways Group CEO Akbar Al Baker said on Tuesday. for Hadley Gamble of CNBC.
When asked if vaccinations would become a “necessity” to fly, Al Baker said: “I think this will be the initial trend, because the world needs to open up, people need to trust air travel.”
“I think this will be a trend that will happen until a time when people are sure that there is adequate treatment or treatment for this very serious pandemic that we are facing today,” he added.
The idea of vaccination passports has been launched by many governments and industries, with supporters saying it would make travel safer. However, critics say it could aggravate inequality and access for people in lagging countries in their inoculation campaigns.
Asked who should carry out the vaccination passport process, the CEO said: “In my opinion, it should be run by IATA (International Air Transport Association) … I have full confidence that IATA will deal with the problems facing the industry. “
The conversation with Al Baker took place in conjunction with the launch of Qatar Airways’ first fully vaccinated Covid-19 flight on an A350-1000.
“The flight to nowhere” will remain in Qatari airspace and will present the company’s new hygiene and safety features, including zero-touch in-flight entertainment technology. It will only carry passengers and crew who have been vaccinated against the virus that has turned the world economy on its head and bankrupted so many airlines in the last year.
The airline does not yet have plans to require vaccination of all passengers.
Oil prices are recovering
After the Gulf states were hit by falling oil prices in the spring of 2020, crude oil has risen steadily due to a combination of supply and demand dynamics, as well as prolonged cuts in OPEC production.
But Al Baker denied the idea that his airline is based on oil revenues that support the Gulf economies.
“We are a commercial entity, we rely on the profitability of our passengers, on our goods we carry, we do not rely on oil prices,” he said. “The only thing we rely on (is) is to have oil prices at a reasonable level, so that they can help reduce operating costs.”
Brent’s crude international benchmark traded at about $ 63 a barrel since Tuesday morning, London time, up 22% from last year, a level the Qatar Airways CEO says is sustainable for the company.
“The price of oil is about $ 60-65 a barrel, I think it’s reasonable for us to get back to a sustained return,” he said.
Returning air travel?
Qatar Airways, like many others, was hit hard when air travel came to a halt in the first few months of the pandemic.
Last year he received $ 2 billion in aid from its owner, tgas-rich Qatari state. The small flagship carrier of the Gulf monarchy recorded a record loss of $ 1.9 billion for the financial year 2019-2020, both due to the virus crisis and the then blockade of a group of Arab states in the Gulf led by Saudi Arabia , which ended in January.
Al Baker said he is confident his airline will return; It is currently rebuilding its network to operate more than 1,200 flights a week to more than 140 destinations by summer. However, IATA does not predict that air travel will return to pre-pandemic levels by 2024.