Paris (AFP)

The hoped-for resumption of air traffic in the fall fizzled out.

Before the harsh winter, airlines are calling for help, cutting costs, laying off workers, or trying System D to survive Covid-19.

"We are in a race against time. The variable is cash, companies die by cash (...) we have to go quickly, very, very quickly", estimates Stéphane Albernhe, managing partner at Archery Strategy Consulting, while the winter season which begins on October 25 and ends at the end of March for air transport will, in all probability, be very bad.

With a drop in revenues in the first half of nearly 80% compared to last year, the coffers of the companies continued to empty to finance high fixed costs, according to the International Air Transport Association (Iata).

After a slight improvement in July, traffic slowed down again in September and bookings for the last quarter herald a more than gloomy end of the year with a decline of 78% compared to last year, according to the Iata.

The hoped-for return to the re-entry of high value added business class travelers has not taken place.

Video meetings, experienced on a large scale during containment, remain a safe way to work without exposing yourself to any risk.

-Trust -

Nothing helps if manufacturers and carriers claim in chorus that the superposition of health safety measures for passengers (distancing, masks, dematerialization of procedures, disinfection ...) combined with advanced systems for ventilation and filtration of cabin air, protect passengers from contamination.

"The risk of contracting the Covid during a trip (by plane) is really very, very low," says Dr. David Powell, medical consultant for Iata.

For the industry, "the key" to confident passenger return lies in the large-scale deployment of pre-board testing as an alternative to quarantine on arrival.

Experiments are already underway in Milan, Rome, Frankfurt, Brussels and London, but also in the Gulf countries, between Hawaii and the continental United States, in Canada, in Asia, in Bogota, or at the airport of Guarulhos-São Paulo in Brazil, according to Iata and ACI airport organization.

Hong Kong and Singapore on Thursday announced an agreement in principle to jointly form a "bubble" that would allow their residents to travel freely, without quarantine, between the two cities, provided they test negative for the coronavirus.

While waiting for a generalization of the tests, the Iata does not cease sounding the alarm bells: with an activity which remains down, the companies need additional government assistance.

- Technical unemployment -

To keep their heads above water, they have already obtained, according to the organization, 160 billion dollars in public support through direct aid, loans, salary measures and tax cuts or easing.

But in the absence of the reserves usually formed during the dynamic summer period, the companies "will not succeed this winter", warned the general manager of Iata Alexandre de Juniac.

In the United States, United Airlines and American Airline laid off a total of 32,000 employees at the beginning of the month, for lack of political agreement in Washington on new support for the airline sector, after the end of September of a device which allowed employees to continue paying.

Ryanair, which has not received aid, said on Thursday it was reducing capacity by 60% from last winter, from 40% initially planned, and closing its bases in Cork and Shannon, Ireland, and that of Toulouse, France for this season.

In Asia, companies are tinkering with offers to replenish their coffers.

In Australia, Japan and Taiwan, several have offered "flights to nowhere" that depart and land at the same airport, drawing strong criticism from conservationists.

Qunat at Singapore Airlines, he offers dinner aboard an A380 immobilized on the tarmac, for a price ranging from 33 to 400 euros.

With "extraordinary" success, according to the company, which also delivers home meal trays.

© 2020 AFP