US aviation

US-Airlines and media reports reveal a rapid up-swing of the US Aviation Market. In view of no domestic travel restrictions and the successful vaccine management with over 4 Mio doses per day currently  (C.D.C.P.), passenger numbers and bookings are rapidly increasing in the US every week, so that airline-executives painted a very optimistic picture of how demand is recovering.

American Airlines bookings were up 400% compared to last year, and within a few points of 2019; bookings last weekend were even higher than they were over the same weekend in 2019!

So the most significant decision has been made, that American Airlines will be putting all of its planes in storage back into service and up in the air by May 2021! Furthermore AA has recently ordered 50 Airbus A321XLRs with Airbus Industries.
Delta Air Lines, a more legacy-oriented carrier, was forced to cancel over 100 flights during the busy Easter long weekend due to staffing shortages of Cabin and Flight Deck Crew and is scrambling to get staff with up-to-date training requirements back into their aircraft.  

Gary Kelly, CEO South West Airlines, recalled all flight attendants and over 200 pilots from  “extended leave”. The airline says, the flight increases are based on "the exploding demand for leisure travel following the coronavirus-pandemic downturn.”

Scott Kirby, CEO United Airlines, is even expecting a strong and sustainable recovery of the international business-travel sector when border restrictions fall, which is reflected in the company consequent fleet strategy. United has expanded its wide body capacity by 5% compared to the start of the pandemic. 

The exit of Norwegian from the market as well as the continuous suffering of European air-lines from recent restrictions may be aspects when predicting the future of international airline business. According to EUROCONTROL, the total number of European high frequency North Atlantic routes fell by 75% in Feb. 2021 compared to Feb 2019.

(career.aero)
 

Apr 12, 2021