Airlines pine for roar of jet engines over the Atlantic

For some of the world’s biggest airlines, the sweetest sound will be the roar of jet engines returning over the north Atlantic. Six months into the coronavirus crisis, the skies remain quiet as the threat grows to the large carriers that depend on the transatlantic airways — among the busiest and most lucrative in the world. BA and Virgin Atlantic and US groups such as American Airlines and United rely heavily on the income from the London to New York route as well as to other US destinations. They have been hit hard by the closure of the US border and the introduction of UK quarantine rules, forcing passengers to self-isolate for two weeks on arrival, and are only running skeleton services between the two countries. “Quarantine effectively cuts us off from the United States, our most important economic partner,” Virgin Atlantic’s CE Shai Weiss said. “Over 500,000 jobs in the UK are supported by our industry and at risk without air travel at scale to key markets like the United States.” The transatlantic routes are worth an estimated $9b in revenue to US and UK carriers — vital for an aviation industry that is heading for global losses of more than $80b this year. But the prospects for recovery are grim with a full revival in aviation not expected until the middle of the decade, with long-haul travel expected to be the last part of the market to return to pre-pandemic levels. Up until this year the number of transatlantic flights had grown steadily over the past decade, with airlines competing to carry business travellers in highly profitable premium seats.<br/>