U.S. Airlines Look to Holiday Boost as Delta Variant Delays Business Travel’s Recovery
Photo Credit: The Delta variant has rolled back U.S. airline optimism forcing the industry to look forward to a potential holiday boost. Flickr / Brett Spangler
Skift Take
The Delta variant has set the travel recovery back with most U.S. airlines eating humble pie after overly rosy outlooks in July. With the business travel recovery delayed at least three months, the industry hopes to counter the tide of bad news with some possible year-end, holiday cheer.
The U.S. airline industry has pivoted en masse away from what has proven to be an overly rosy outlook for the recovery this fall. Hopes for a return of business travelers were dashed by delayed office returns that, coupled with the seasonal slowdown in leisure travel, has carriers looking ahead to the end-of-year holidays for a boost.
Airlines heaped blame for the slowdown on the Covid-19 Delta variant. Rising case counts took down August and September numbers, with all but Delta Air Lines forecasting continued weakness until the November and December holidays. Most carriers now forecast a loss in the third quarter — a difficult reality to be faced with after optimistic profit outlooks in July.
"I don't think the variant changes much of anything," Delta CEO Ed Bastian said of the recovery at the a Cowen investor conference on Thursday. "The variant is forcing us all to realize this is a serious disease virus that we have to deal with. And we're dealing with it probably on an ev
