Flying in the empty skies / getting back in the air during/after the corona shutdown

That’s really terrifying.

I for one quite enjoy hearing that other people are getting out and flying, at least someones able to have a bit of fun.

tmo wrote:

Straight from the horse’s mouth – Failure to comply with the self-quarantine rules may result in a fine of PLN 30 000 – kwarantanna_plakat_en_pdf

Jeez, not nice.

But at least, it seems it’s just for those in strict 14 day quarantine after returning to the country. Not for everyone.

Indeed. There is no point in having a quarantine if people are free to ignore it. The alternate is a quarantine in government provided location which I believe is what New Zealand is doing.

Also, most of the airline business was nothing but a big bubble just waiting to collapse in any case. €39 to go to Riga to get a shave (people actually did that), or a London trip for €20, isn’t viable business in any stretch of the word. It’s a result of massive over capacity and fierce competition.

I agree it isn’t viable business. Just a note: the airline that (by their own definition) has the cheapest fares is also the one that has been the most profitable in the last 10 years or so (and by passenger volume the largest in europe).

Demographically speaking: Why are cheap tickets so sought after in the first place? The only thing standing out in the last years was that the market demanded cheap tickets, why? On the other end, while obviously a tiny fraction of flights, there’s never been more private Jets.

Genuinely interested.

My prediction is: corona will go away, most things aviation will return to how they were before. Some airlines will go away, new ones will come…

Why are cheap tickets so sought after in the first place?

It’s a marketing gimmick. To cover a 737/A320 you have to sell tickets for about 150 each. So a lot of tickets go for a lot more than this. I’ve seen Ryanair pricing over 400 on Pula-Stansted, for example.

If you look at outrageous ripoffs extras like 80 for carrying skis, etc. I suspect only a few really cheap tickets are actually sold at that price. Then the common practice of charging say 50 out and 200 back. I have usually paid about 200; almost exclusively Easyjet or BA.

I think it stinks. Like brakes-off to brakes-on billing in GA rentals encouraging crazy surface practices, or wet rental driving general abuse in the air, these pricing structures are driving massive “just fits” carry-on baggage which no airliner can store overhead in the full quantity and which prevent ones putting one’s coat etc in the locker.

Someone familiar with the school/club scene has just told me that a lot of them will pack up; they were already financially right on the edge. May not matter to the end users because the planes will get sold to another club/school. What would be a problem for GA is if the club/school owns the airfield as well… or forms the dominant customer. Then yet another airfield might go to the property sharks.

From a business POV, the UK is really dead now. My little firm is still OK but nearly everything is export. Much of the UK is loving it; 80% of your salary and you have all day to muck about… what is not to like I wonder what the rest of Europe is like? Anyone else here with their own business? I heard from a local that Italy has been badly hit.

Peter wrote:

From a business POV, the UK is really dead now. My little firm is still OK but nearly everything is export. Much of the UK is loving it; 80% of your salary and you have all day to muck about… what is not to like

I smiled at the Italian politician (or bureaucrat?) who was quoted recently as saying that nobody should be allowed to lose their jobs as a result of coronavirus. The problem is that once you start ignoring reality, you become a victim of it. This is nothing new in Italian politics, but when government starts to become increasingly detached from reality and empowered in places where its negative effect on business has traditionally been more limited, people worldwide may suffer much longer. Somebody has to pull the train.

I never realized before that we were all one “décret” away from a Police State. Wow. In France, people tasked of verifying that laws/décrets are legal and valid are ex-classmates to those who write them, so guess what happens…

After decades of mass media, newspeak and herd mass education, most French are now sheeps that follow the rules (the younger the better). The Yellow vests were a minority who felt the “virtual prison” we are in but couldn’t explain it (I mean put words, formulate). They proved that you can set all France on fire, as far the central “arrondissements” of Paris stand, business will continue. When they got closer, the police charged and let all the far left activists join the party (they very well know how to avoid that). So the herd didn’t follow. And the prison is a golden one for many ;) (1/4 of the working population works directily for a governement structure)

Peter wrote:

From a business POV, the UK is really dead now. My little firm is still OK but nearly everything is export. Much of the UK is loving it; 80% of your salary and you have all day to muck about… what is not to like

In France, it is between 84 and 100%. 100% for us in particular

Silvaire wrote:

I smiled at the Italian politician (or bureaucrat?) who was quoted recently as saying that nobody should be allowed to lose their jobs as a result of coronavirus. The problem is that once you start ignoring reality, you become a victim of it.

We are kids for them, so they switch between reassuring (when Macron speaks) and intimidating (when First minister speaks), that’s all.

Here is a bit of US perspective on getting back.

Flying the empty skies GA pilots have had lots of fun over Kastrup lately see here.