Hong Kong, May 18 -- Returning the region's airline fleets to the sky after travel restrictions are lifted may be the easy part for the industry post COVID-19. Convincing travellers to fly on those airlines will be quite another matter, research conducted by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in April revealed.
Its survey of 11 of the world's largest domestic aviation markets, including the Asia-Pacific, found about 40% of people aimed to wait for at least six months after lockdowns were lifted before flying again. Another 47% would wait at least a month or two. Only 14% said they would get straight back on board.
Fear of the virus is not the only reason for the sentiments of respondents. Approximately 69% of those surveye...