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Pandemic to alter way fliers choose long-haul airlines

Long-haul airline passengers will be far more cautious when selecting their carriers in a post-COVID-19 world.

Qatar Airways was the biggest carrier into Australia in April. Picture: AFP
Qatar Airways was the biggest carrier into Australia in April. Picture: AFP

The COVID-19 pandemic will ­reshape the global corporate and leisure tourism sector with long-haul airline passengers far more cautious about selecting their ­carriers.

“The travel rebound will take years,” Qatar Airways chief strategy and transformation officer Thierry Antinori told The Australian from Doha

“People will be more conscious about the reliability of the airline that they use. There’s a lot more cautiousness to flying and we need airlines that provide good service to customers. Customers want reliability.”

Qatar was the single biggest carrier into Australia in April, ­operating 44.5 per cent of flights, well ahead of Air New Zealand, which was the second-largest carrier operating at nearly 5 per cent of flights, according to the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics data.

While other airlines were grounded, Qatar Airways repatriated thousands of Australians during the pandemic.

At the height of the crisis Qatar increased daily flights into Sydney and Melbourne and was granted access into Brisbane where it flew three times a week. It also serviced Perth with three to four flights a week.

“We flew continuously during the crisis,” said Mr Antinori, who was previously CEO of Austrian Airlines and chief commercial ­officer of Emirates Airlines.

“I think people will remember us for that. Other airlines are (now) trying to restart but it is very difficult.

“Australia has been the most important market for us during COVID-19 and we are thankful they allowed us to fly into Brisbane. For us it’s important to do the best for the customer and the trade.”

Mr Antinori said it was clear many people needed help returning to Australia.

“We concentrated on long-haul expatriation business; we asked for an extension of traffic rights into Doha,” Mr Antinori said, adding that the airline initially operated 21 flights a week into Australia and then significantly more in April due to COVID-19. Many people were stranded outside of their countries worldwide and they wanted to be back home.

“The company and CEO are very experienced in dealing with disruption,” Mr Antinori said.

“A lot of students were stranded. There were a lot of Australians in Europe.

“We have been very pleased to help these people who had been stranded by their own airline. We are there also in bad times.”

Qatar will continue to fly into Brisbane until the end of October.

“We’d be happy to keep flying into Brisbane. We were there for them during the crisis,” he said.

Read related topics:Coronavirus
Lisa Allen
Lisa AllenAssociate Editor & Editor, Mansion Australia

Lisa Allen is an Associate Editor of The Australian, and is Editor of The Weekend Australian's property magazine, Mansion Australia. Lisa has been a senior reporter in business and property with the paper since 2012. She was previously Queensland Bureau Chief for The Australian Financial Review and has written for the BRW Rich List.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/pandemic-to-alter-way-fliers-choose-longhaul-airlines/news-story/6834225dcc127a961c74a792e9c5d45c