Skift Take
The pandemic will have marred the first anniversary celebrations, but this fledgling corporate travel unit should have enough experience behind it to ride out the storm.
Southwest Airlines launched a dedicated corporate travel unit called Southwest Business in August last year.
The division took on extra account managers, set up a partner desk and signed new deals with distribution and ticketing technology companies; overall, a statement of intent it took corporate travel seriously.
Six months later, however, it was derailed by coronavirus. But one year on, its vice president is optimistic, as some of its refund solutions could become permanent features for customers, and help speed up recovery. At its launch last year, the carrier also predicted extra revenue of up to $20 million for the second half of 2020.
But that might have to wait. Many companies are keeping their travel freezes until January, and when restrictions do ease the number of business trips returning will likely be dented due to the influence of virtual meetings.
Meanwhile its own CEO, Gary Kelly, described any recovery as a "long, saw-toothed slog with a lot of unexpected twists and turns" after forecasts of 30 to 40 percent capacity for August, falling from July’s 40 to 45 percent. And United Airlines reckons it will fly only 35 percent of its originally planned schedule during the
