Many will be desperate for a holiday – but are discounted flights enough to revive the industry?

The pandemic has severely altered our perception of travel, but many of us long for a few days in the sun, a change of scene, and a chance to escape the drudge, says Salma Shah

Is going on holiday a way to support a struggling industry? (Getty)

Is anyone else feeling a little wary about having to start holidays abroad again? There was a time when air travel was so frequent you could turn on your autopilot to book, pack and move through the airport seamlessly; now a brain fog descends when staring at an empty suitcase. How does one pack? What’s the toiletries limit again? And can you even remember the luggage allowance? It seems incredible that we’d happily go through such a fuss for a few days away in the sun.

That’s perhaps why Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary wants to tempt us back to the skies with offers of discounted flights. For a company that has made staggering losses during the pandemic, this seemingly counterintuitive move will probably stimulate that short-haul city break market, in the process allowing the airline to swallow the short-term pain, betting that the move will lead back to profitability in 2023.

The financial shock faced by the airline industry and the sheer boredom endured by the public suggest it’s a no-brainer to take up these new offers. And wouldn’t it also be a charitable act? Doing our duty to support a struggling industry. Imagine the marketing campaign, a Lord Kitchener figure staring from a poster, exclaiming: “Your country needs you … to go on holiday”.

Indeed, having been a customer of Ryanair before, I’m not entirely sure that a discount would be enough to endure it! Though Mr O’Leary has said their half-term flights were full to the gills, perhaps proving his business acumen has once again paid off in the highly competitive and tight-margined world of air travel.

And competition is rife. It won’t be long before others follow suit, which in this new climate-conscious age does prompt some questions about price-slashing for such a polluting activity. It is incongruous with government objectives, but they are in no position to complain, having offered little support to this industry specifically during the pandemic.

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The reality is that a calculation has been made: that travel, and business travel in particular, will have fundamentally altered now we are used to Zoom calls and virtual meetings. We can travel through time zones at the click of a link if necessary. This means that the airline industry, no matter how many incentives and price cuts it offers, is having to adapt, at least for the moment, to a new way of being – one that the government is willing to let the market decide to work on itself.

We are also still not through the pandemic, and hopping around travelling does give rise to the fear of that dreaded escaped mutation. Will a cheaper ticket be the defining point in your decision-making process with all these considerations? But behaviours are not always rational, or moral, and we all have a choice. Having been trapped for such a long time indoors, we long for a trip, a change of scene, and a chance to escape the drudge.

We are missing adventure, turning up to the airport with that lovely feeling you get when you’re through security and at the gate – when all the excitement begins. The novelty of that may have been lost before the pandemic. Regaining it at a lower cost for the next few years may mean a higher price for it later, though maybe that’s no bad thing if we’re going to really appreciate those few days in the sun.