Air services will have to wait years to get back to normal

Endeavor Cornell, Emirates Country Manager for Ireland, has warned that flight journey disturbed by the Covid crisis will have to wait for years to return to normal.

He says the airline industry will not be the same until 2022, the measures taken by the countries of the world to combat the spread of Covid have also adversely affected the aviation sector.

According to Cornell, there was a 90 per cent drop in Irish passengers last July following the expansion of Covid. Meanwhile, Enda Cornell, a Dublin native, also predicted that the economic impact of the Covid crisis would completely wreak havoc on airlines.

He also said that it will take years for the aviation and airline industry to return to its former state and people will probably be reluctant to travel abroad and take vacations next year unless the vaccine is found.

At the same time, Cornell said the region’s return will be based on a number of factors, of which the Covid vaccine will be a key factor. If the vaccine is not detected, routine and comprehensive testing at the airport will be required.

He says the current restrictions will have to be lifted if air travel is to become more acceptable. Before Covid, there were 14 Emirates flights to Dublin with 85 per cent of passengers a week.

Cornell said Emirates also has a history of serving Ireland with 85 to 100 percent of passengers during the Christmas season.

The Dubai-based Emirates Group has 270 aircraft and it flies to more than 150 destinations in different countries. But he said everything was messed up by Covid-19 and did not expect anything to return to normal in the near future.