Qatar Airways boss Akbar Al-Baker has predicted a slow recovery for the state-owned airline and many of its global rivals, even going so far as to suggest that its flagship A380 fleet may not return to service at all.
Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, Qatar operated 10 of the Airbus wide-body to six destinations: London, Paris, Frankfurt, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth. The airline grounded the A380 fleet in late March, shortly after rival Etihad chose to do so.
“They will not return for at least a year, and maybe never,” Al-Baker told the West Australian newspaper this week.
Qatar Airways has been one of the few airlines to maintain much of its scheduled passenger flights during the global lockdowns, maintaining repatriation services to around 30 destinations. The company said earlier this month that it plans to gradually resume flights to much of its pre-pandemic network, which included 165 destinations globally.
“I am sure there will be demand,” Akbar Al-Baker reportedly told Reuters, predicting that the airline would be able to fill between 50 per cent and 60 per cent of seats by June.
“There are still a lot of people stranded around the world (and) people who want to visit their loved ones.”
But the CEO added that he would be “very surprised” if travel demand recovered before 2023/2024.
Earlier this month, Qatar announced plans to donate 100,000 economy-class return tickets to frontline healthcare workers, once travel restrictions are eased.
