PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Risk of contracting virus on airplanes - perspective
Old 21st Jul 2020, 11:28
  #46 (permalink)  
PilotLZ
 
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Europe
Posts: 704
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I don't know how far your observations over the demographics of the travelling public go, but what I am seeing is that those travelling now are mostly people in their 20s, 30s, early 40s. First, they feel a lot less intimidated by the virus. Whether that's because statistically most of those who got seriously ill and died are in higher age groups, because young people are generally more willing to take risk and shake off stress quite quickly or because of a combination of both - well, most probably the last one. Second, those who have spent most of their conscious lives after the low-cost revolution treat leisure travel as an essential and integral part of their daily lives. Probably as integral and natural as going to the gym or grabbing a snack in a cafe. They are so used to this way of living that they cannot imagine otherwise.

Aside from this, society is coming out of the phase of acute stress and avoidance of anything and everything other than staying at home. In my area, in the first week or two after restrictions on visiting parks were lifted, you could see people wearing rubber gloves and face shields over their masks in the park. Now you can't see any of that. That's just one example of how people are recovering from the trauma and looking to resume all their normal activities - albeit with some reasonable safety precautions.

Something to think about when it comes to high-value travellers is that, with the right marketing, a business jet charter company can actually benefit a lot from this situation. It's not just that a business jet often offers by-the-book social distancing. It's also the avoidance of crowds and queues and the generally lesser flow of people through GA terminals, as opposed to scheduled flight terminals. Hence, no wonder that pretty much everyone I know in the corporate charter world are having quite a busy time now. And not with business trips only. Well-off families seem to be coming to the conclusion that sharing a private flight for their vacation in Cannes with their friends is a long way more comfortable, prestigious and fun than any airline flight. So, the premium segment is still there as well - only that it might look different from what we've seen so far for some time.
PilotLZ is offline