Wider impact of Covid-19 on Air NZ
 

Yesterday i was cancelling a Singapore work trip coming up later in Feb, which I needed to do by phoning the NZ calling centre. The cancellation is due to conservative travel policies we have put in place at work to avoid non critical business travel right now. I was informed that the normal 10 days or so time to refund is now taking up to six weeks. According to the agent who helped me he said this was due to many people cancelling flights due to the corona virus outbreak.

(note Air NZ were not offering any special leeway for Singapore changes, i wasn't expecting it as Singapore is not (yet?) on any travel warning but i did ask if there was any just to see.)

Anecdotally, i have even heard of some companies cancelling travel to places like USA.

It would seem the impact of this could be quite far reaching for the airline, I guess like most airlines globally. In NZ case if Singapore keeps seeing more cases and if people start staying away even from transfers, with many travellers presumably avoiding Hong Kong, that would take would take out their only other real Asia hub i guess.

Are/would any of you reconsider travel to or via airports like HKG and SIN right now? And curious for those work flyers whether your companies have put in place restrictions beyond mainland China?

We have postponed plans for travel to Hong Kong & Singapore for work this year, normally travel in March each year. Will just reassess later in the year.

I am also due on a honeymoon next year and will most likely be travelling on QR or SQ to Europe. If it comes to it (and although unlikely that the virus is still an issue), I may take QR over SQ to avoid transiting through Asia.

Cancelled one trip to Hong Kong but largely due to clients fear rather than mine.

Next trip after that May to UK. No plans to change at the moment

Was told several of SQ and EK out of Christchurch have been close to empty - but just anecdote.

I think Airlines and NZ in particular will be really hurting.

I know one large AU/NZ corporate that has even cut all non critical travel between both countries.

Curious. Is this due to Coronavirus?

Work for a large NZ corporate and we use a security company to manage security and medical risks when travelling and follow their advice - which is good as they don't hype things up that don't need to be hyped up. So we have just cancelled all non-critical business trips to China - so technically you could still go but practically you wouldn't as a visit to China currently means being denied entry from lots of other countries and quarantine etc. Everything else is fine.

Currently in AKL International Lounge waiting to board NZ284 to SIN and initially had the premium heavy config and a light load but was changed to a 787 V1 yesterday so J and PE is full and Y is pretty close to it. NZ283 on the way back in March has a pretty full load as well. Not sure if the light load was the reason for config change or some other reason.

Yes I work for a multinational with many staff in China (who are obviously not travelling) but we are taking a careful approach in all offices worldwide. Business trips can still go ahead to other countries outside of mainland china but are being scrutinized much more closely. Much more use of zoom, which is probably not a bad innovation anyway

Interesting, thanks. Hard to earn SP's with Zoom though.

Doha is, of course, also in Asia, not that the virus knows anything about continents. If the virus is still an issue next year then I doubt Doha will be any better than Singapore, given that the biggest factor is probably connectivity rather than geography.

You’re not wrong.

We are supposed to be doing a 48 hour transit in Shanghai in October, holding tight for now hoping the situation clears up by then.

Might have a chance of our EAPDU (the ones we lodged a year in advance but couldn't be confirmed in advance) clearing!

I was on an ATR today. A pax asked for a pillow or blanket and was told that due to corona they had all been removed.

The stock on domestic probably isn’t cleaned between flights, so probably an fair call.

I would never use an blank/Pillow in Y, sometimes it does make you wonder how clean they are with short-turn arounds.

hahahah! Indeed. Fortunately domestic travel and trans tasman not impacted yet for us.

Its an interesting question, and in some cases hits environmental concerns. Some airlines wrap their blankets in plastic so you know they are clean. But of course thats not ideal environmentally. I sometimes wonder about outstations and cleaning, not suggesting Air NZ specifically. I guess one can always ask the crew if items have been cleaned? Though of course its not like the seats are cleaned between flights (or ever!) so I guess the difference between a pillow and seat back/ arm rests etc might be marginal.