Jamie Freed and Aradhana Aravindan

SYDNEY/SINGAPORE – Asia-Pacific airlines suffered billions in losses this year as planes were grounded due to COVID-19 transportation freezes. As some of the strictest travel regulations in relation to pandemics begin to relax, airlines are increasing their flights and offering ticket deals.

Reuters spoke with Asian carriers and agencies about a spike in inquiries and bookings, as airlines from Asia report that countries such as Malaysia and Vietnam have allowed domestic flights back to begin this week following months of tight lockdowns.

India lifts a national capacity limit, while Singapore and Thailand are open to foreign travellers who have been vaccinated from certain countries.

While airline industry group IATA does not expect a significant improvement in Asia-Pacific international travel until “later in 2022 https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/iata-sees-sharp-fall-airline-losses-2022-2021-10-04/#:~:text=The%20losses%20for%202021%20were,from%20%24126.4%20billion%20estimated%20earlier.&text=%22We%20are%20past%20the%20deepest,told%20the%20group’s%20annual%20meeting” – predicting cumulative losses of $11.2 billion this year, narrowing to $2.4 billion next year – carriers from AirAsia Group to VietJet Aviation, Singapore Airlines (OTC:), Fiji Airways and Qantas are already increasing capacity.

Subhas Menon of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines stated that “the most important thing” is for almost all Asian-Pacific governments to move towards a type of COVID-normal framework.

“Vaccination rates also begin to rise.”

Although there are some improvements, normal operation is still far from being restored. IATA projects that the global aviation industry will suffer losses of $200 billion due to the pandemic. This includes losses for Asia and the Pacific regions.

Even though some tourists will be able to travel after the restrictions are lifted, Thailand will still see a small number of foreigners this year. That’s down from almost 40 million last year.

There is still a lot of demand for those who long to travel abroad.

Dickson Ng (a 24-year-old Singaporean consultant) said that he will travel to Europe in January.

He said, “We don’t know if VTLs [vaccinated travel lanes] could be rescinded. Right now there’s an opportunity and there is COVID fatigue. So I believe getting out of this country will be beneficial.”

Fiji Airways received thousands of reservations since Sunday’s announcement that it will open its borders to travelers who have been vaccinated from certain destinations starting Dec. 1. The majority are from Australia, a spokesperson for the airline said.

BARGAINS Vs. PRICE-HIKES

Numerous airlines already promote bargain fares.

VietJet, the low-cost Vietnamese carrier, is giving away some domestic tickets for free, exempting taxes and fees. AirAsia, Malaysia, has low fares starting at 12 Ringgit ($2.88), as it increases its flights.

AirAsia reported that traffic to their mobile app has increased by over 140% after the government eased domestic travel regulations.

However, Singapore has set a limit on the VTL program’s daily arrivals at 3,000 per day. This is a small fraction of pre-pandemic traffic and has resulted in ticket prices rising.

Chan Brothers Travel in Singapore reported that inquiries have increased by 50 percent since VTLs became available to South Korea and Britain.

According to a spokesperson from Singapore Dynasty Travel, the cost of returning economy-class tickets from Singapore to South Korea has nearly doubled from S$800 to S$1500 ($1,107.50).

She said that while some travellers might wait until the price rise for flights passes, we expect a lot of people to take to the skies in the first half 2022.

($1 = 4.1630 ringgit)

($1 = 1.3544 Singapore dollars)