Photo: @ethanjweiss via Twitter
We are perpetual optimists. As we've wholeheartedly stated in previous
blog, we
sincerely believe that air travel and the airline industry will bounce back. There will be
changes,
updates and inventions and with that comes the opportunity for new aviation business shifts --
because the
desire to travel by air will never leave the human spirit.
The past 24 hours has seen a definite improvement in the morale in our industry, and is
significantly
reflected on Wall Street. Domestic leisure air travel is adapting, and business travel and
international
flying will not be far behind.
‘People Are Getting in Planes’
Some in the industry said the recovery was now already underway.
Delta expects to fly twice as many passengers next month as it did in May, its chief executive, Ed Bastian, said.
United will add flights to New York, Boston, Seattle and Philadelphia next month to serve commercial and governmental travel. It also plans to add flights to reopening vacation destinations, including Las Vegas; Portland, Maine; Aspen, Colo.; and Jackson, Wyo.
American plans to add flights from its hubs, including Dallas, Philadelphia and Charlotte, N.C., to destinations like Asheville, N.C.; Savannah, Ga.; and Charleston, S.C. It also said it would significantly increase flights to Florida and seasonal destinations in Montana, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.
The New York Times
'The leisure rebound is real.'
In today's news, TSA screenings at US airports topped 400,000 on Friday and again on Sunday, the highest they've been since March 22. Screenings this past weekend were still down 84% from a year earlier, but that's a big improvement from the 90% drop in May and the 95% drop in screenings in April. Screenings bottomed out at about 87,500 on April 14.
American Airlines announced on Thursday it is planning to add more domestic and international flights in July, which will amount to 55% of its normal schedule; a huge jump from the 20% of the schedule it is flying in June. The company had just over 32,000 daily passengers on domestic flights in April but more than 110,000 by the end of May.
Airbnb reported Monday that it had more US bookings between May 17 and June 3 than the same time period a year earlier. That signals Americans are ready to travel, albeit primarily within the United States.
Airline stocks were up again Monday after Bank of America raised its recommendation on two smaller airlines — JetBlue (JBLU), to neutral from sell, and Alaska Air (ALK), to buy from neutral. Most of the airline stocks were up between 5% and 11% in midday trading Monday.
“We think that travel goes hand in hand with economic recovery. The more that people start to move and travel, the more demand there will be for these jobs,” said Tori Emerson Barnes, U.S. Travel Association executive vice president of public affairs and policy.
As reported by CNN and The Hill
As we have also said before, if you start your training today, you will become a hirable, professional and in-demand pilot in about two years-- after you complete your professional trainiing, gain your flight experience and earn your 1500 hours. These are long-term goals for your professional career which you can work to position yourself for now, as the world's economies are opening back up.
Rick Shideler, AirlineGeek columninst opines, "As the airlines work to reinvent and remake themselves during this time, it is clear that the projected shortages in pilots and technicians in the years to come are still a significant issue and airlines and corporate flight departments will be fiercely competing for the limited supply of professionals available to them.
Experts disagree on when airlines will return to their high load factor days but no one is arguing that a recovery is inevitable. You don’t have to look far to see examples. The 2001 9/11 terrorist attacks and the SARS pandemic in 2003 demonstrated how airlines weathered global financial storms. 2020 is likely no different.
AirlineGeek
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/08/business/airlines-summer-travel-coronavirus.html
https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/aviation/501439-airline-industry-soaring-back-to-life
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/08/investing/airline-stocks-rebound/index.html
https://airlinegeeks.com/2020/06/04/pilot-technician-career-outlook-post-pandemic-still-promising/
Photo: SpiceJet via Quartz
