Depression in long-haul air travel to continue until ‘biggest’ markets open up: Al-Baker

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive HE Akbar al-Baker

Depression in long-haul air travel will continue until the “biggest” markets in the world– Brazil, China and India open up, said Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive HE Akbar al-Baker. “Biggest countries like the US, China and India can open up their domestic markets, but when you have a hub and spoke operation and you want your people to travel long-haul, it has to be a consistent protocol of how you will treat the vaccinated people and how you will open up the countries and the markets,” al-Baker said at a panel conversation with Guy Johnson, anchor, Bloomberg Television at the Qatar Economic Forum on Tuesday. Asked about the challenges being faced by airlines in view of the pandemic and the global response, he said, “I am extremely frustrated because what is happening every day is that governments are changing the protocols of who they will let enter, who they will put in quarantine, and who they will restrict from entering their countries. “The different set of requirements for vaccination the Covid tests are really confusing passengers and the airlines alike. And I hope the governments realise they are damaging their own economies and the aviation industry as a whole.”