Delta Expects Big Return of Business Travelers This Fall, Recession or Not
Photo Caption: Delta expects more business travelers to return this fall. Delta Air Lines
Skift Take
Airline industry bellwether Delta has spoken and the outlook is good. Operational issues are easing in the U.S. and travel demand, particularly among corporations, continues to pick up even as the economic outlook sours.
Delta Air Lines is confident on a robust corporate travel recovery this fall despite broader concerns that the U.S. could fall — or has fallen — into an economic recession.
“There is such pent-up demand for access to our products," Delta CEO Ed Bastian said during the airline's second quarter results call on Wednesday. "And, we’re not going to satisfy that thirst in the space of a busy summer period. There’s a lot of that demand to come.”
Bastian's lieutenant, the Atlanta-based carrier's president Glen Hauenstein, added that domestic corporate demand was at 80 percent of three years ago in the second quarter, while international was at 65 percent. In addition, a survey of Delta's corporate customers indicates that they plan to increase business travel come September, particularly internationally and in sectors — which he did not name — that have come back the least from the pandemic. Hauenstein also cited a recent Morgan Stanley Global Corporate
