Airlines in Asia spread wings cautiously amid COVID-19

SINGAPORE — While some countries have allowed more domestic flights to resume, plans on restarting international flights are still up in the air.

Vietnam Airlines ready to resume international flights next month

Vietnam’s airlines are getting ready to restart international flights from next month (July) even as the public remains leery about the risk of importing fresh Covid-19 cases.

Vietnam Airlines and Bamboo Airways have said they will resume flights to destinations like Japan, South Korea and Taiwan – which, like Vietnam, have successfully managed to contain the pandemic within their borders – as soon as they get official approval.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on June 10 directed the Vietnamese authorities to work out the criteria for regions to which commercial flights can resume. These areas could be those which had not detected community infections for 30 consecutive days, he was cited by the Vietnamese government’s online newspaper as saying. Some possible destinations are Guangzhou, Taipei, Seoul and Tokyo.

Australians adjust to ‘new dictates of social distancing’ in pandemic flying as domestic travel resumes

Early indications suggest that many Australians are willing to start flying again. PHOTO: AFP

Australia’s success in reducing its Covid-19 cases has prompted domestic airlines to start adding flights, but travelers are quickly learning that the flying experience is noticeably different to before the pandemic.

While international flights remain almost entirely grounded, Australia’s carriers have begun increasing domestic capacity ahead of the busy mid-year school holiday period, which begins over the next two weeks.

Qantas and its budget subsidiary, Jetstar, plan to boost their domestic capacity to 15 percent of pre-pandemic capacity by the end of the month, up from about 5 per cent last month. For Qantas, this is expected to reach 40 per cent by the end of July.

Many Malaysians excited by domestic holidays as flights resume

The decision to ease the curbs comes with Malaysia consistently recording a low number of infections. PHOTO: AFP

Madam Nisrin Razi wasted no time in planning a short getaway with her family after the Malaysian government announced that it was allowing domestic flights to resume.

It has been almost three months of being “locked up” for the family due to the movement curbs imposed to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 37-year-old accountant said that she needed a “break” for her sanity, although she still feared contracting the disease.