The International Airports Association reported a sharp drop in passenger traffic on domestic Russian flights. According to data from 30 Russian airports, the decline in domestic traffic at the end of March is approaching 40% compared to the same period last year, reports Travel.ru's own correspondent.
The outflow of passengers from domestic flights began in the middle of the month, but at first did not exceed 10-15%. However, this week, airports began to lose an additional 5% every day. As a result, the decline has already reached about 40% and will probably continue to increase, especially since one of the largest airlines, Pobeda, has already announced that it will not fly at all in April-May.
The reason was a sharp decline in demand due to the coronavirus epidemic. In addition to emptying airplane cabins, a second process is also taking place: some airlines have begun to cancel some of their domestic flights. International flights had practically disappeared even earlier.
Passengers and tourists planning to travel in the coming weeks should carefully consider the necessity and possibility of travel. Any borders may be closed at any time (including, in some cases, internal administrative borders) and returning home may become problematic or impossible. Some countries are blocking not only entry, but also exit, as well as transit, including for foreign citizens. Any flights of any transport, including domestic ones in some countries, may also be suspended.
Not only border closures and mass flight cancellations can be a problem, but also quarantines, which are introduced almost daily by various countries for passengers arriving from certain places (and in some countries, for all those entering). In addition, you can face quarantine upon returning home. Finally, the chance of contracting the new coronavirus increases significantly when traveling compared to staying at home.
It should be borne in mind that many foreign air carriers have already found themselves in a financial crisis and are unable to pay money for refunded air tickets. They only offer rebooking tickets for other dates or destinations. The reason is the actual lack of cash receipts, since few people are buying air tickets now. Pobeda also refused to refund money for cancelled flights.
The timing of the return to relatively normal transport is completely unclear. Judging by the dynamics of events in various countries, it will take more than one month.
Source: travel.ru