American Airlines Flying to Hong Kong from Dallas In July?

 

Due to the ongoing pandemic, American Airlines had shut its international operations to Hong Kong in March. The airline had announced that the operations will not happen all through June. In keeping with its earlier statement, the airline has stated that it will be beginning the flights to Hong Kong only from July 10^th. Even as the airline has announced its decision, it is certain that there will be reduced frequency of flights to begin with. It will be operating the flight three times a week from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. It shall be noted that the Dallas to Hong Kongflight is also its longest.

The plan is to permit the American Airlines flight ticket booking for this route for travel from July 10^th. The Dallas to Fort Worth flight will be a transpacific one operational on Sundays, Mondays and Fridays. The return flight will be from Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. It shall be mentioned that the government of Hong Kong continues to ban all those passengers who are not residents of Hong Kong from entering into the city. So, the fact that the American Airlines has started to take the bookings does not mean that the airline will be able to fly in to Hong Kong on July 10 if the government retains its orders of banning all non-residents.

So, what shall the passengers do? There are two options for passengers. If they really have to travel at the earliest to Hong Kong, they have to take this risk of booking flights on AA. The risk will be that the airline might not be allowed to fly and your money will be retained for a future flight. The other option is that you wait and keep an eye on the Hong Kong Government order. If the order allows the flights to operate, there will be a hike in the price. Therefore, the only likely drawback of waiting will be to pay a higher price of tickets.

Another factor which could have a bearing on resumption of normal flight operations is the ongoing unrest in Hong Kong against the new Security Law and the tensions between the US and Chinese government over it. How the development will shape the future will depend on how things play out between Washington and Beijing politically.

Therefore, it would be better for the passengers to wait for now before booking the flights as there is a lot of uncertainty at present. It is expected that the air will clear in a few days which will help passengers to take a concrete decision in this respect.

American Airlines Says Demand Improving But Plans 30% Cut in Administrative Staff Strength

The biggest US carrier, American Airlines, has sought to downplay the talk of initiating proceedings of bankruptcy under Chapter 11. On the contrary, the airline has recently told media that the demand is slightly improving. It must be mentioned that the airline has seen the revenues dip by 90% in the past few months during the lock down period. Nearly 40% of its employees have sought early retirement, temporary leaves and reduction in work. However, the airline is still planning to cut down the strength of its administrative staff as the operations are expected to be low key in the next few months are the bailout package date is over. Another reason for this is that the overall demand of air travel in USA is expected to shrink by at least 10% in summer of 2021.

On the brighter side, the American Airlines reservations have risen more than the demand for cancellations in the past 2 to 2.5 weeks. This gives hope to the airline. Even though the airline is currently operating at 20% of its capacity, this indicates that passengers are willing to do American Airlines booking once again. The optimism is not unfounded even though many states require passengers to go for a 14-day quarantine period. There is, however, an element caution to be exercised here as the airline is not likely to ply more planes on routes till significant improvement is seen over a reasonable time frame.

Now, the question is what is required to be done to keep this demand on improvement curve? As per the recent expert suggestions, there will be a demand for face coverings and deep cleaning. Face coverings is a requirement for passengers, frontline employees and crew members on most of the airlines. However, if any passenger comes to airport and boards the plane without mask, what shall the airline do? Will it decline it a seat? Will it offer a mask from its stock? Will it be considered an offence and action be taken for non-compliance? The airlines have adopted a rather soft stand on taking action against violators who do not wear face coverings.

Which Countries Plan to Reopen Their Borders For International Flights?

 

No one had thought that pandemic of this nature and scope could strike the planet and put on hold all the transportation systems for months, including the safest of them all- Air Transport. The people who lived by air travel, whether by being a part of the industry or as customers who loved to fly to different destinations around the world, had to show tremendous restraint by being at their places all this while. While the pandemic is still not out and might have passed the peak in many countries of the world, there is always a lurking danger of its bouncing back. However, since the disease is going to be there in future as well and we will have to adapt to live with it, the countries are slowly opening up their transportation systems. To this end, the international travel is also expected to be free from shackles of lockdown fast.

For the people of United States, most of the international air tickets were booked for Canada, Mexico, Caribbean and European destinations. Spain, Italy, United Kingdom and other European countries have declared their intention to open the international borders. However, they have refrained from giving any specific dates in this respect. Some are planning to open in June, some others in July. The European countries are one of the worst hit with the pandemic and this is the reason for them being more cautious while opening. They are most likely to open the borders to international flights from fellow European countries at first. Then, slowly, to other countries. The lessons learnt from this pandemic, that is of more and frequent cleaning and sanitization and social distancing will have to be followed all through.

Canada is also planning to open its skies by June end, though the land border will open at least 30 days later. Again, there is no specific date announced. Everyone seems to be in a wait and watch mode.

Mexico and Caribbean are expected to open earlier, by early or mid-June. This will give the much needed relief to vacation seekers who used to flock Caribbean island resorts and Mexican beaches for total relaxation. How many are going to bit the bullet remains to be seen?

All this news of opening up the international air travel gives the tentative opening time period for different countries, though there is an air of cautious optimism. We can expect all of these destinations to open up by August.