Airlines Report Fall Travel Expected to Be Slow
Friday, September 25th, 2009
While some analysts are expecting a steady increase in travel as holiday season approaches and as more people start to get ahead of the economic downturn of the past few months, the major U.S. airlines are continuing to report declining traffic and decreased demand in corporate travel. Analysts are reporting that September may be particularly challenging for some of the major carriers because corporate travel is dwindling to all time lows. Corporate travel continues to be one of the largest revenue streams for all major airlines, but reports of decreased demand from business travelers has caused many carriers to restructure their operations and report huge losses through 2009.
U.S. Airways reported a drop in capacity of nearly 4 percent in August 2009, but does expect an improvement in bookings through September. Delta Airlines, even after merging with Northwest last last year, continues to see a drop in corporate and leisure travel for the summer. The only carrier that has not reported any major drops in demand is JetBlue.
JetBlue recently reported higher-than-average load factors for its fleet, and also unveiled its unlimited flying program over the summer to stimulate business travel. JetBlue’s incentive was geared towards corporate travelers who wanted to enjoy unlimted flying options to select flights for an entire month for a flat rate.
Despite the discounts and ticket sales that many airlines are hoping will encourage more sales, travelers continue to pay high fees for baggage and other services as airlines. Fall season may continue to show patterns of reduced demand for travel in both the leisure and corporate sector, but the holiday season and the earlier part of 2010 look to be more promising for airlines and travel agencies, according to the American Travel Association’s forecast.
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