American Airlines News

Airlines promised that more payroll assistance would allow them to avoid dramatic staffing reductions. That relief is now here to the tune of $15 billion but it looks like the furloughs, while temporarily rolled back, are still coming.

Ordinarily, an airline might refuse to transport a passenger with Covid-19. But airlines know they need to repatriate crew members who develop Covid-19 abroad. If they do not, crew members might refuse to fly the trips, and airlines would lose revenue.

Unprecedented losses forced airlines to focus on cash burn as the metric to watch early on during the coronavirus pandemic. The recent surge in new infections has delayed breakeven goals but, with billions of dollars on hand, most are looking ahead and getting ready for when travelers return in droves.

Airlines shed jobs at the fastest rate since 1990 this fall as they slashed costs to weather the coronavirus pandemic. With prospect of additional federal relief still mired in politics, very real questions remain about the industry's ability to ramp up flights once travelers — and the economy — return.

Gol is set to be the first global airline to resume Boeing 737 Max flights on Wednesday, returning the jet at the beginning of Brazil's busy summer travel season. But questions remain over whether travelers have confidence in the aircraft after a 20-month grounding with no less than the future of Boeing hanging in the balance.

You can debate about in-flight studies on the risk of spreading infection. But American Airlines at least has the hard evidence that its guest-facing workers have a reported lower infection rate than the company as a whole or than the urban areas where they tend to work. That bodes well for a business travel rebound.

The various sectors of the U.S. travel industry favor former Vice President Joe Biden and shifted support from Republican to Democratic congressional candidates since 2016.

In Skift's top stories this week, Expedia conducted another round of layoffs, tech investors are drooling over the events industry, American Airlines is mulling bringing back the 737 Max before the end of the year, and Google founding itself dealing with a U.S. antirust lawsuit.

The world's largest airline will be half the size it was through the end of this year. But CEO Doug Parker thinks its flight network makes American uniquely poised to recover faster. The trajectory of the pandemic, of course, will determine if he's right.

Not long ago, many U.S. airlines were focused on business travelers. They often neglected the leisure traveler. But Covid-19 changed everything.