Qatar Airways CEO says Covid vaccines are likely to be needed to travel

The CEO of a Middle Eastern star airline has said the requirement for Covid-19 vaccines is likely to be a trend in air travel as the industry tries to recover from the impact of the pandemic. of coronavirus.

“In the short term, yes, I think the vaccine passport will be useful in giving confidence to both governments and passengers in our industry to start traveling again,” Hadley Gamble of CNBC told the board on Tuesday Qatar Airways Group delegate Akbar Al Baker.

When asked if vaccines will become a “necessity” for flying, Al Baker said, “I think this will be the trend initially, because the world needs to open up people need to have confidence in air travel.”

“I think this will be a trend that will happen until a time when people are certain that there is proper care or treatment for this so severe pandemic that we are facing today,” he added.

The idea of ​​vaccination passports has been put forward by many governments and industries, and advocates say this will make travel safer. Critics, however, argue that it could worsen inequality and access for people from countries that are lagging behind in their inoculation campaigns.

Asked about who should run the vaccination passport process, the CEO said: “In my opinion, it should be run by IATA (the International Air Transport Association) … I have full confidence that IATA will be put in the day with the problems facing the industry “.

The conversation with Al Baker took place in conjunction with the launch of Qatar Airways ’first fully vaccinated Covid-19 flight, on an A350-1000.

The “flight to nowhere” will remain within Qatar’s airspace and will feature the company’s new hygiene and safety features, including “zero-touch” in-flight entertainment technology. It will only carry passengers and crew who have been vaccinated against the virus that turned the global economy into a leader and crashed so many airlines last year.

The airline has not yet planned to force vaccination of all passengers.

After the Gulf states collapsed with the fall in oil prices in the spring of 2020, crude oil has been steadily rising due to a mix of demand and supply dynamics, as well as prolonged reductions in production. of OPEC.

But Al Baker refuted the idea that his airline relies on the oil revenues that sustain the Gulf economies.

“We are a commercial entity, we rely on the profitability of our passengers, our cargo we carry, we do not trust oil prices,” he said. “The only thing we trust (is) is to have oil prices at a reasonable level, so that it can contribute to our reduction of operating costs.”

International benchmark crude Brent was trading at around $ 63 a barrel on Tuesday morning in London, up 22% from the previous year, a level the Qatar Airways CEO says is sustainable for the company.

“The price of oil ranges from $ 60 to $ 65 a barrel, I think it’s reasonable that we’re back to a sustained return,” he said.

Qatar Airways, like so many others, suffered strong success when air travel stalled almost during the first months of the pandemic.

Last year it received a $ 2 billion ransom from its owner, the gas-rich Qatari state. The flagship carrier of the Gulf monarchy recorded a record loss of $ 1.9 billion during the 2019-2020 fiscal year, both due to the virus crisis and the blockade of a group of Gulf-led Arab states. ‘Saudi Arabia, which ended in January.

Al Baker said he is confident his airline will recover; it is currently rebuilding its network to operate more than 1,200 weekly flights to more than 140 destinations in the summer. However, IATA does not expect air travel to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2024.