Many frequent flyers miss getting on planes and airlines including Taiwan’s EVA Airways Corp and Japan’s ANA Holdings Inc, desperate for revenue and to keep their pilots’ licenses current, have offered special sightseeing flights.
“It’s probably the fastest selling flight in Qantas history,” she said. “People clearly miss travel and the experience of flying. If the demand is there, we’ll definitely look at doing more of these scenic flights while we all wait for borders to open.”Taiwan’s EVA used one of its iconic Hello Kitty livery planes for a special father’s day flight last month, while ANA used an Airbus SE A380 that usually flies to Honolulu for a 90-minute flight with a Hawaiian experience on board.
“The pandemic has a devastating impact on the tourism and airline industry, so I want to help boost the economy, and I miss flying,” she told Reuters. “First, it encourages carbon-intensive travel for no good reason and second, it is merely a stop-gap measure that distracts from the policy and value shifts necessary to mitigate the climate crisis,” said awareness group SG Climate Rally.