Delta Variant Could Further Hamper US Airline Industry

Airlines expect the latest slowdown in travel due to the ongoing spread of the delta variant to be only a temporary setback, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

While business and leisure travel picked up more quickly this summer than some airlines had expected, the resurgence of COVID-19 infections has some travelers a bit more wary about heading to the airport anytime soon.

Carriers including United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines Inc., Southwest Airlines Co. and JetBlue Airways Corp. told WSJ on Thursday (Sept. 9) that their August bookings had tailed off and cancellations had increased amid reports of a pandemic upswing. United is scaling back its schedules because of falling demand for the rest of the year, but still has hope for the long-term viability of the airline industry.

“The current spike in cases has been significantly less impactful to date than prior spikes and is expected to be temporary in nature,” the airline wrote in a filing. “Based on demand patterns following prior waves of COVID-19, the company expects bookings to begin to recover once cases peak.”

Delta Airlines reported that its booking trends have settled down in the past 10 days, although business travel is still well below pre-pandemic levels. “People are still traveling,” Delta Chief Executive Ed Bastian said at an investor conference on Thursday. “It’s probably about a 90-day pause in return to travel for that next leg up that we were expecting to see, but it’s coming.”

Southwest saw lower bookings in August, and expects September and October to continue showing fewer leisure trips. American Airlines’ third-quarter revenue will likely miss its target thanks to weaker bookings and increased cancellations.

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“I’d say it’s a pause, as compared to continued growth,” Bastian told Bloomberg earlier this week, noting that Delta is flying at about 40% of where it was pre-pandemic. “That said, we understand why it’s paused.”

A recent Morning Consult for the American Hotel & Lodging Association survey found that more than half of the 400 travelers interviewed said they would postpone their upcoming trips because of fears about the continued delta variant spread.

PYMNTS reported on Monday that 22% of travelers plan to travel for Thanksgiving, according to the online travel planner TripIt, and 31% are mulling trips around the winter holidays.