Airlines are restoring half the "normal" number of seats as easing of restrictions continues
When IAG reported its predictably dire half-year results last Friday, the outgoing CE, Willie Walsh, warned that it will take at least until 2023 before “normality” returns – whatever that may be by then. Tim Jeans, former managing director of Monarch, goes further – at least in terms of traditional sunshine destinations. “Some people have been going to the Med four or five times a year. The appetite for discretionary trips will erode,” he says. As a result, Mediterranean routes may take 10 years to recover to 2019 levels, he argues. In the age of coronavirus, “throwaway” off-peak flights could prove difficult to fill. “Recent events have knocked confidence of people to book in advance,” he says. The abrupt travel warning to Spain and corresponding quarantine rules for returning travellers looked like it's wiping out August, the peak month for the UK’s favourite holiday nation. Yet a couple of voices have suggested that the summer may not turn out to be as dismal as we feared. “I am really encouraged that we have seen higher than expected levels of demand with [a] load factor of 84% in July,” said Johan Lundgren, CE of easyJet, in a trading update Tuesday.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2020-08-05/general/airlines-are-restoring-half-the-normal-number-of-seats-as-easing-of-restrictions-continues
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Airlines are restoring half the "normal" number of seats as easing of restrictions continues
When IAG reported its predictably dire half-year results last Friday, the outgoing CE, Willie Walsh, warned that it will take at least until 2023 before “normality” returns – whatever that may be by then. Tim Jeans, former managing director of Monarch, goes further – at least in terms of traditional sunshine destinations. “Some people have been going to the Med four or five times a year. The appetite for discretionary trips will erode,” he says. As a result, Mediterranean routes may take 10 years to recover to 2019 levels, he argues. In the age of coronavirus, “throwaway” off-peak flights could prove difficult to fill. “Recent events have knocked confidence of people to book in advance,” he says. The abrupt travel warning to Spain and corresponding quarantine rules for returning travellers looked like it's wiping out August, the peak month for the UK’s favourite holiday nation. Yet a couple of voices have suggested that the summer may not turn out to be as dismal as we feared. “I am really encouraged that we have seen higher than expected levels of demand with [a] load factor of 84% in July,” said Johan Lundgren, CE of easyJet, in a trading update Tuesday.<br/>
