Interviewed by Chairman Karl Brünjes at a very well-attended Aviation Club Webinair last Wednesday, Loganair CEO Jonathan Hinkles made the point that in his view business travel – crucial for regional airlines – “isn’t going back the way it was!”

“While construction, manufacturing and primary health care will still be drivers of demand, many other sectors will largely switch to online permanently, and this should serve as a warning for anyone thinking about piling capacity into the UK domestic market,” he said.

“Gone are the days when people would spend all week travelling and staying in hotels. Work life balance has changed,” he adds. “Business travel will not return to 2019 levels ever, or at least within any airline planning period.”

Hinkles also was cautious regarding leisure travel, stating that “we are not seeing much sign right now of pent-up demand for domestic tourism,” and that “some of my competitors might be believing their own press releases,” a reference perhaps to Ryanair.

He says: “I have no doubt things will start to recover, but it is too early to tell if we will have a good summer or not.”

(Also see Loganair marches on in this week's BTN.)

The full interview can be seen here.

https://aviationclub.org.uk

www.loganair.co.uk