According to travel experts, Kuwait nationals and residents are eager to travel amidst receding repercussions of coronavirus crisis locally and abroad, with several countries having reopened borders.
Airfares have spiked given the limited number of offered tickets, the experts said, adding that the pandemic has resulted in shut down of majority of airports across the world, impounding aircraft, and thereby travel companies have suffered severe losses, with some of them having been forced to shut.
The Head of Kuwait Airways Media and Public Relations Department, Fayex Al-Enezi, said that corporation increased flights after the cabinet decided to resume full-capacity operations at Kuwait International Airport from 24th October.
He hoped that air travel would be restored to pre-pandemic levels, and confirmed that Kuwait Airways is all set to serve many passengers at Terminal 4.
According to tourism expert, Kamal Kabsha, ticket prices have dipped by more than 200 percent for departing flights, while the fares for incoming ones continue to remain high.
Airfares are much impacted by the demand and offer, apart from costs of main operations. The bookings have also gone up by 20 percent even before full resumption of airport operations, he noted.
A complete restoration plan is yet to be made, as there are health constraints imposed by states, such as mandatory quarantines, PCR tests etc. A complete recovery of travel and air navigation is expected in late 2022 and early 2023, however, it all depends on vaccinations’ capacity to supress the pandemic and depends on easing of health restrictions, Kabsha said.
The deputy director of a travel agency, Nassib Adnan, said that the decision by the Kuwaiti Cabinet is to reoperate the airport have led to slashing of airfares by over 50 percent to certain destinations such as Egypt, Turkey, France and Germany.
However, the travel cost to certain destinations such as India, Britain, UAE and Philippines continue to remain high, in comparison to airfares before the pandemic outbreak. A gradual recovery of the sector is likely soon, he said.
