Vapour trails
 

One side effect of Covid19 is the absence of vapour trails. The Humber estuary sits on a flight path and early mornings/afternoons the sky is laced with trails, there are frequently 5 or 6 aircraft visible at any time between 7 and 9am. This morning there were none.
I looked on flight24 https://www.flightradar24.com/53.47,-0.78/8 and, at 8am, there were no flights overhead.


I'd seen pictures of grounded aircraft stored at airports but this brought the reduction in flights into sharp focus for me.

Re: Vapour trails
 

Unfortunately, those billions of pounds worth of aircraft sitting on the tarmac still have to be paid for. So the sharp reduction in flights is likely to be followed by a sharp reduction in airlines.

From an environmental perspective this is good news, but from a travel perspective it's going to be rubbish.

Re: Vapour trails
 

You know they're not vapour trails, right? They're spreading smart dust which we breathe in and can be activated by 5G signals to kill the people who the Governments see as being undesirable citizens ;):D

But seriously, yes, it is strange. Like after the Icelandic volcano back in 2010. And as Keith said, god know what will happen to the likes of British Airways, which is often described as 'a pension fund that flies some aircraft on the side.'

Re: Vapour trails
 

A lot of the 'national carriers' like BA will get bailed out one way or another by their respective governments, and I'm expecting the EU competition watchdog to be forced to turn a blind eye. The European Parilament will just enact some emergency measure to allow governments to ignore the rules on tax payer support for 'critical' industries.

But the budget carriers who work on wafer thin margins and big bank loans are going to be hit hard. Their revenue stream has stopped unexpectedly but the banks will still want their pound of flesh. So it's going to be turbulent times in the airline industry.

Re: Vapour trails
 

Already happened in Germany with Luthanser.
BA has categorically said they won't and that the boardrooms rhetoric to staff. They do have a big cash reserve of around £9bn.

Easyjet, virgin, Loganair (will go bust and have said that) are wanting bailouts.

Emerites have been bailed out, qatar also. Cathay Pacific are heading that way too

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