Etihad, VP APAC, Joanna Patterson at the CAPA Asia Aviation Summit 2022

Transcript

Joanna Patterson:The last few months, from a corporate perspective, the business recovery is definitely there, and it depends on the industries, but we're really seeing a comeback. And in this region, I mean, there's some very, very big markets in terms of corporate. If you think of Australia, if you think of China, although at the moment it's not really part of the recovery, but the other markets in In Asia, like Singapore, people are traveling again. Corporates are traveling again, which is really good. The fact is everybody's traveling. So the whole pent-up demand and revenge travel also means it's quite a challenge actually to even get onto the Airbus at the moment. I think the travel managers and the budget holders, the departments, would like that. I think the CFOs have taken a very different view because they have seen that their business could continue to survive or even thrive depending on the industry. With no travel, so with travel at the moment picking up a lot, I have heard quite a few companies saying, "Oh, my CFO is really reining in on my budget," and they want us to sort of keep our budgets low and not come back to pre-pandemic. So it's a bit of a difficult one because even if they keep the same budgets as they've had this year, the prices are going up, and it will regulate. But I'm not quite sure when it will sort of come down again, and until capacity is back in the market right now, the demand is so high. Fuel. Costs are still high and therefore prices are high. So it's going to be a difference in, I have that budget, do I find business or do I buy 2 economy tickets so that I can travel more? I think that's what we're going to see. Our flights are full at the moment. So I think not just our flights, in general flights are full. I think the impact is that the corporate mindset has to change because corporates travel fairly last minute. But with all the other travel happening at the moment, whether it's leisure, VFR holidays, meeting friends and family, that is being booked in advance and they have filled the flights. And when corporates are coming now, it's finding a seat. And so it's very, very difficult. And they might find a seat on one airline, not the other, in economy, not at the front. And it's having an impact in the corporate business. And I'm hoping that next year— at the moment, the mindset has to change in terms of corporates planning their trips. And planning ahead, because it's not as simple as I'll book today to fly in a few days, because you most likely won't get a flight. And if you do, it's going to be extraordinarily expensive. So it's planning has to happen in a very different way in terms of the corporate travel. Some are starting to, others are still last minute, and therefore they might not be flying on their preferred airline because that one is full and they'll find another alternative, which might be a non-preferred or a different class of travel, simply because that's where they find availability. But you can't just fly nowadays. You need to know, do I need a visa? Do I need a declaration form? Do I need a PCR test? Depending where you're going, although a lot of the world is open, there are still pockets of restrictions. And while you're traveling, you know, I just came back yesterday into Singapore and I just could not remember, do I need to fill in the Singapore arrival card or not? Because we're so back to normal here that I'm going to Australia next week and I haven't checked, to be honest, and I need to check. There's nothing. Great.

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