Since this summer, companies in South East Asia and the Pacific have been offering passengers flights that have no destination. Absurd? Not completely, since it is a question of adapting to the context of the Covid19 pandemic.
This is the new travel trend that is hitting the other side of the world. Since July 2020, the Australian company Qantas has offered a flight route that forms a loop over Australia's natural heritage, finally … returning to the departure airport. Totally WTF? However, "destination-less" flights are on the increase, and appeal to travelers on the other hand, while adapting to the context of the pandemic.
Malignant, the companies put forward an opportunity to escape without quarantine and involving reduced health risks. They target more affluent travelers: a Quanta company excursion costs no less than $ 800. This did not prevent the first sale from being a box: the tickets sold out in 10 minutes!
Taiwanese and Hong Kong companies have also started to offer this type of flight, marketing them according to travel themes, on the model of cruises. Eva Air, for example, offers an aerial tour for the local Father's Day, with a take-off and then a tour over the island of Taipei. Bonus: an open-air dinner concocted by a starred chef. The company also ensures to do everything to "allow passengers to enjoy the atmosphere of long-distance travel", and insists on the unique possibility of accessing original gifts at a lower cost, thanks to the tax free as in the duty free foreign airports.
A very profitable trend? Not for the planet … Because if the companies intend, thanks to these offers, to compensate for the massive economic losses due to the suspension of air traffic during confinement, the idea is not very "world after". We know that climate change is linked to our modes of consumption and transport, and that air travel remains the mode of transport that consumes the most fossil fuels and emits CO2. On October 3, personalities have also called for demonstrations throughout France to demand, among other things, the reduction of air traffic.