Asia airlines hope Omicron setback will be short-lived

SYDNEY: A nascent recovery in Asia-Pacific international travel demand has been set back by the Omicron variant as governments tighten rules, but airline bosses say they hope any backward moves will be short-lived.
International passenger traffic in Asia-Pacific was at just 5.4% of pre-pandemic levels in October, the lowest of any region globally, but some border rules were relaxed in Australia, Japan, Thailand, Singapore in November before the Omicron variant’s discovery late in the month.
“We were seeing accelerating openings until Omicron,” Campbell Wilson, chief executive of Singapore Airlines budget offshoot Scoot said at a CAPA Centre for Aviation event on Tuesday.