Air Charter business travel has been drastically impacted by the Covid-19 Pandemic, regional airline, Bluebird Aviation has announced.
General Manager Hussein Mohammed said this happened after many customers opted to work from home and most business transactions moved online.
“This Business segment has been drastically affected by virtue of the fact that you can transact business in a zoom meeting and electronically you can now transact business,” Mohammed said in a statement on Wednesday.
“So technology has evolved to an extent where you are able to transact business without having to go to a physical destination like Singapore or London.”
Mohammed said charters are now down about 20 to 30 per cent from an initial 70 per cent capacity.
He said medical charters has also reduced drastically since most patients being transferred from point A to point B are Covid-19 positive.
“No airline wants to expose their staff, both cockpit and cabin crew to Covid-19. Most airlines want to first know the medical status of the passenger before they start the evacuation. Most of these cases are referred to airlines that are specially equipped for medical evacuation,” he said.
But he notes that commercial airlines business travel has been enhanced to a little extent by the virtue of the fact that for those who can afford it and want to fly, there is sufficient social distancing and more room in the business class.
African airlines lost $10.21 (about Sh1.1 trillion) in passenger revenue last year, a report by the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) indicated.
This came with a drop in the number of scheduled passengers carried by African airlines, which fell from 95 million in 2019 to 34.7 million in 2020, representing a year-on-year decline of 63.7 per cent.
The reduction in traffic continued until June, before reversing with the gradual opening of borders.
Kenya's national carrier, Kenya Airways, reported a Sh36.6 billion loss for the 12 months to December 2020.
