Southwest Still Not Seeing an Airline Recovery Aided by Business Travel
Photo Credit: Southwest Airlines plane Wikimedia Commons / Eric Salard
Skift Take
It could be years before the airline industry fully recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic, outgoing Southwest CEO Gary Kelly says. But as he leaves his job, he believes Southwest's domestic route network will stand it in good stead to capitalize on changing travel trends.
Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly, long more cautious in his outlook than his peers at other U.S. airlines, believes the industry could feel the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic for as long as 10 years as the way people travel evolves in response to the pandemic.
“I would have never bet a year ago that this is where we would be in early 2022,” Kelly said during the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year earning’s call today “I thought we would have this pandemic beat and behind us, but we are far from that.” The effects will be felt for years, he said, throughout all parts of travel ecosystem — airlines, hospitality, tourism — adding that the last year, which started with such optimism, was “humbling.”
But he remains confident the U.S. airline industry is well-positioned to adapt, thanks in large part to government aid during the pandemic. “If you compare the U.S. to other countries, the U.S. has left the commercial airline industry in pret
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