Leading aviation industry expert Winnie Muchanyuka believes it will take some time for airlines to bounce back from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic but adds the effect on their bottom line—and the economy—will not be cataclysmic.
Speaking in an interview on UltimateTourism Chat with Chief Koti the Tourism Business Council of Zimbabwe (TBCZ) president encouraged aviation players to use the downtime to reflect on effective business models.
This comes as the International Air Transport Association said potential revenue loss by carriers in Africa and the Middle East had reached US$23 billion (US$19 billion in the Middle East and US$4 billion in Africa).
This translates into a drop in industry revenues of 32% for Africa and 39% for the Middle East for 2020 as compared to 2019.
“It is crucial at this time as a business we take this downtime to reflect and check our system and see how we have been conducting business pre-COVID-19. Are they areas we can improve, just to relook our business and see how we improve on efficiency, be innovative and use this time to think outside the hustle and bustle of normal operations,” said Muchanyuka, who is the country director for Southern Africa of South African Airways.
“We going to have to cut back post-COVID-19 to be able to recover. It’s inevitable. Businesses at this time need to look at how they’re going to market their product and services, what products and services are going to be critical to for companies to get back as quickly as possible and start operations again.”
The new coronavirus outbreak which has virtually ground global air travel has seen Zimbabwe’s state-owned airline put workers on indefinite unpaid leave after revenue dried up.
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