Jane Wardell and Aziz El Yaakoubi

DUBAI, (Reuters) – A significant hit to peak December travel season due to Omicron variants of coronavirus will cause “significant traumas in the global aviation industry,” Emirates airline President Tim Clark declared on Tuesday.

Clark indicated that Emirates had been working with the idea of vaccines for this new variant, however he acknowledged that it would be difficult to predict the outcome.

“I would say probably by the end of December, we’ll have a much clearer position,” Clark said in an interview for the Reuters Next https://reutersevents.com/events/next conference.

“But at that time, December remains a very crucial month for the airline travel industry,” he said. If that happens, or if a lot more carriers lose winter, it will cause significant traumas to the business. This includes the aviation industry and its periphery.

The World Health Organization (WHO), Monday warned, that Omicron Coronavirus is likely to spread globally and pose a high risk for infection surges in some areas.

Omicron first became known in southern Africa on Nov. 24, when the number of infections has risen dramatically. Since then, it has spread to over a dozen other countries. Many of these have placed travel restrictions in an effort to protect themselves. Japan joined Israel Monday in declaring that it will close all its borders to foreigners.

Clark explained that the “it’s likely it’s inhibiting, arresting, but not stopping the uptick of demand that we all have had the benefit from in the past month or so.”

However, he noted that the government could “go the opposite way” and take more severe measures to counter the threat posed by the variant.

Clark explained that it was difficult for Air Canada to decide not to fly out of South Africa or a few other surrounding countries due the strong demand during December.

His statement said however that bookings were strong in spite of the return to European markets for measures such as trace and trace, quarantine, and PCR testing.

He said that people have not yet made the decision to cancel their travel plans or withdraw from them. “We hope that this doesn’t get worse and that border procedures for reentry don’t make it impossible for anyone to travel at all.”

FLEET PLANS

Emirates Chief Executive Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum announced just two weeks back at the Dubai Airshow, that they would deploy 60 more A380s as a response to increasing demand. This will be in addition to the existing 47.

Clark stated Monday that “that will be temperated by whatever form it takes.” We hope all of our planes, including the 380s, will be flying by next summer if it is mild, and if it has been accepted that it has a mild effect, and the effectiveness of the vaccine shield can deal with it.

Clark claimed that the company’s current greatest obstacle was re-embedding pilots, cabin crew, and engineers as well as re-training them in safety procedures.

He said, “We continue to move like this variant will be addressed.” “If this isn’t the case, then we will slow down our plans accordingly.”

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