Melbourne Airport chief executive Lyell Strambi has said repeatedly extending COVID restrictions has a far greater impact on passenger demand than one-off snap lockdowns.

“Ultimately, passengers need time and confidence to plan their travel,” said Strambi. “Short, sharp interventions can be recovered but when they are extended, other states and territories tread cautiously before reopening again.”

The words came as the business revealed the latest COVID restrictions, first introduced on 28 May, caused domestic seat capacity to fall by more than 60 per cent at the end of the month compared to the start.

“Victorians are showing great confidence in interstate travel, which is really pleasing,” said Strambi. “In fact, just last month we were welcoming around 65 per cent of our pre-COVID passenger levels thanks to open domestic borders and the New Zealand travel bubble.

“But as we know certainty during COVID can prove fleeting, with Victoria’s most recent lockdown causing states and territories to introduce fresh travel bans on Melbourne.

“Lockdowns have proven effective as a health measure, but they are absolutely brutal on the community and business.”

It comes after Strambi in February said state governments should favour contact tracing to bring outbreaks under control, and in May said the country must work harder to speed up its vaccine program.

“In the short-term our splendid isolation is ultra-safe from COVID, but in the long-term it will act as a handbrake on the economy, jobs and opportunities for Australians,” he said.

“It is increasingly likely that Australia will be left behind as countries around the world reopen to one another on the back of high vaccination rates.”

It came as Melbourne revealed it welcomed 1,200,000 domestic passengers in May, only slightly lower than April’s 1,400,000. The numbers would likely have been the same or higher without the snap lockdown.

At one point, Victoria’s fourth lockdown led to around 230 flights a day being cancelled at Melbourne Airport alone. New Zealand also paused the trans-Tasman bubble to Victoria.

Previously, the airport saw domestic passenger traffic in April notch up to 65 per cent – the biggest since COVID and the same as Sydney.

It comes after the ACCC on Thursday hailed domestic aviation’s recovery, which showed 18 per cent of Australian passengers flew on routes where there was a choice of three airline groups, compared with the pre-pandemic figure of 1.5 per cent. That number is expected to have increased since March due to Rex’s expansion.

“Passengers flying Melbourne–Gold Coast, Melbourne–Adelaide and Sydney–Gold Coast now have a choice of four airlines, as Qantas, Jetstar, Virgin and Rex are all operating on the routes,” ACCC chair Rod Sims said.

“The impact of increased competition can be seen on all of Rex’s new intercity routes, including Sydney–Melbourne where airfares fell to their lowest level in a decade following Rex’s entry.”

The investigation also revealed total passenger numbers in March 2021 were 55 per cent of pre-pandemic numbers, up from 41 per cent in December 2020.

“Prior to the recent Victorian outbreaks, the domestic airline industry had experienced relatively fewer and less significant disruptions for a number of months, and the combination of cheaper airfares and growing consumer confidence to travel interstate was critical to the recovery,” Sims said.

Coincidently, Qantas on Thursday announced it would increase its capacity to 107 per cent of pre-COVID levels and Jetstar to 120 per cent.

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Source: https://australianaviation.com.au/2021/06/melbourne-ceo-says-extending-lockdowns-kills-confidence/