Let’s fly! Things are starting to move again in the aviation industry

There was a lot of activity last week in the aviation industry. In the wake of exclusively negative reports on potential bankruptcies, decimated passenger numbers and compulsory redundancies, we are finally starting to hear some positive sounds. Several airlines are gradually starting to resume flights or are announcing ambitious plans.

British Airways

The International Airlines Group (IAG), the parent company of, among others, British Airways, Vueling and Iberia, is announcing plans for a ‘meaningful restart’ in July and is aiming for a 50 percent recovery by the end of 2020.

Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines wants to reactivate its network as of June. Schiphol and Brussels are among the first international destinations to be served. The news is not yet official.

Garuda Indonesia

Garuda Indonesia is hoping for a piecemeal resumption of domestic flights as of Thursday. Earlier all domestic flights had been suspended until 1 June due to the corona crisis but it looks like the Indonesian government is set to ease this restriction.

Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways will gradually expand the number of destinations over the next few weeks. The aim is to start flying to 23 European airports as of June: Athens, Budapest, Moscow, Istanbul, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Barcelona, Brussels, Paris, Copenhagen, Dublin, Edinburgh, Rome, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Manchester, Munich, Milan, Oslo, Berlin, Vienna and Zurich.

Korean Air

Korean Air is resuming passenger flights between Seoul and Schiphol on 2 June. The South Korean airline has announced that for now they’ll be using a Boeing 777-300ER or a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner three times a week.

Air Namibia

Domestic air traffic has resumed. All domestic flights had ceased to operate due to the corona crisis but now Air Namibia is carrying out domestic flights again. Six destinations are served from the capital of Windhoek.

Wizz Air

It looks like Wizz Air is fulfilling a pioneering role in the restart of air traffic. The low-cost operator, who expanded the number of flights on Friday and is adding Abu Dhabi to its destination portfolio in June, has also announced a new airline service between Charleroi and Vienna. As of 1 July Wizz will operate five flights per week to the Austrian capital.

KLM

Last Monday KLM started to slowly rebuild its decimated destination network. Eight routes to destinations within Europe that were temporarily suspended due to travel restrictions have now been resumed, including flights to Italy and Spain, two of the countries that have suffered the most from the corona virus. On Monday KLM started serving Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Milan, Budapest, Prague, Warsaw and Helsinki again. For now the service is limited to one daily flight with an Embraer jet.

ATTENTION

We don’t want to spoil the fun but don’t go rushing off to the airport just yet. Read our article on the phased restart of the travel industry.