After a long and bleak winter, airline executives say business is starting to improve, but it is still not entirely clear.
The Transportation Security Administration screened nearly 4 million passengers last Friday through Sunday, the highest levels since travel plummeted last spring.
The future looks brighter for a return to air travel – at least for leisure.
“As the case count is dropping to significant levels as vaccinations start to rise, people are ready to take their lives back,” Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said to NBC’s Lester Holt in an interview he went to. air on Tuesday.
“We are seeing reserves rising. People are anticipating what their plans for spring and summer will look like and are ready to make up for the lost period they had, ”said Bastian.
People living in the United States began receiving $ 1,400 stimulus checks this week as part of President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, making it easier for confined passengers to buy tickets.
But business travel, where most of the airline’s profit margin is obtained, remains reduced by about 80 percent, Bastian said, dampening a full recovery for the sector at the moment.
Overall, passenger travel remains lower by more than half in March, compared to the same period in 2019, a year of record traffic and profitability for airlines.
Airlines received more than $ 44 billion in partial payroll support for pandemic relief measures approved by Congress since last March. A funding gap in September spawned tens of thousands of licenses.
Southwest CEO Gary Kelly predicted in an interview with the Washington Post on Monday that the airline would break even in June, “when a large part of the population was vaccinated”.
In a regulatory filing, Southwest said March and April will exceed expectations with increased traffic and fares, with passengers booking trips to the beach and mountains.
“We are certainly seeing the start of what appears to be a huge increase,” said American Airlines CEO Doug Parker at a JPMorgan virtual event on Monday.
The recovery appears to “have legs,” said Ted Christie, CEO of Spirit Airlines.
Wall Street has rewarded signs of optimism, with industry stocks rising in recent weeks, led by United Airlines and American. This generated some profit realization on Tuesday, with airline shares falling 1.7 to 3.4 percent.
Airline executives believe that business will eventually return to full force, and praised the intensive cleanliness and safety measures they added to protect passengers and crew and restore confidence in the face of the Covid threat.
“We have very few documented cases worldwide, let alone in the United States, of transmission on board an aircraft,” said Bastian. “The filtration systems on board our aircraft are the safest air you can breathe, anywhere. We all have HEPA filters and make sure our planes are spotless. “
The approval of a federal mask mandate eased tensions over the use of masks somewhat, with crew members telling NBC News that they don’t have to write as many passengers they don’t meet. But some conflicts remain. The Federal Aviation Administration helped on Monday that it will continue to enforce a zero-tolerance policy enacted in January. He has reported more than 500 cases of undisciplined passengers since December.
“You have some people wanting to make a political statement,” said Bastian. “It is really unfortunate because it puts customers sitting around you at risk, they feel uncomfortable and our employees are adopting an unapologetic policy.” The airline added about 1,200 people to its exclusion list due to non-compliance with the mask.
“If you can wear a mask and decide not to, you won’t be flying Delta,” he said.
