Nairobi News

Chillax

Air Charter travel impacted by Covid-19


The Air Charter business travel has drastically been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in the past year or so, with customers opting to work from home and transact their business online.

Air Charter, or Air Taxi, is  an airline that transports you to your destination, then waits for you to transact your business, and then flies you back.

Bluebird Aviation General Manager Captain Hussein Mohammed confirmed to Nairobi News that potential clients have elected to work from home.

“This business segment has been drastically affected because you can transact ant type of business in a zoom meeting.  So technology has evolved to an extent where you are able to transact business without having to go to a physical destination like Singapore or London,” he noted.

Adding: “Assuming Air Charter business was say at 70 per cent pre-COVID times, Charters are now down about 20 to 30 per cent.”

Medical Charter demand has also reduced drastically, as most patients being transferred from point A to point B are COVID-19 positive.

“No airline wants to expose their staff, both cockpit and cabin crew to COVID. Most airlines want to first know the medical status of the passenger before they start evacuation. Most of these cases are referred to airlines that are specially equipped for medical evacuation,” said Captain Mohamed.

However, commercial airlines business travel has been enhanced to a little extent by the virtue of the fact that those who can afford it and want to fly, there is sufficient social distancing and more room in the business class.