How United Airlins is trying to plan around a pandemic
When the coronavirus pandemic wiped out travel in the spring, United slashed its flight schedule, salted away aircraft in the New Mexico desert and parked planes at hangars around the country. That was the easy part. Now, with what is normally the peak summer season behind it and travel proceeding in fits and starts, the airline is continuing to fine-tune every facet of its business, from maintenance to flight planning, as it tries to predict where a wary public will fly, a challenge even in the best of times. “We can really throw away the crystal ball, which was hazy to begin with,” said Ankit Gupta, United’s VP for domestic network planning. This week, the airline announced a $1.8b loss during Q3, with revenues down 78% compared to the same period a year ago. While United said it was ready to “turn the page” from survival to rebuilding, it said it didn’t expect a recovery to begin in earnest until 2022. Passenger volumes for US airlines are down about 65%, according to an industry group, and major carriers have taken on enormous debt as they lose billions of dollars each month. After hopes for a second congressional rescue package faded last month, United furloughed more than 13,000 workers and American Airlines furloughed 19,000. But while every airline is struggling, each struggles in its own way. United relies far more than its rivals on international travel, which is deeply depressed and is expected to take far longer than domestic travel to bounce back. Lucrative business travel will be slow to return, too, and the airline said this week that it had amassed more than $19b in cash and other available funds to cope with the downturn. “We’ve got 12 to 15 months of pain, sacrifice and difficulty ahead,” United’s CE, Scott Kirby, said on an earnings conference call on Thursday. “But we have done what it takes in the initial phases to have confidence — it’s really about confidence — in getting through the crisis and to the other side.” In navigating that path, the airline has focused on finding savings while positioning itself to serve the few passengers who still want to fly. Story has more.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2020-10-16/star/how-united-airlins-is-trying-to-plan-around-a-pandemic
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How United Airlins is trying to plan around a pandemic
When the coronavirus pandemic wiped out travel in the spring, United slashed its flight schedule, salted away aircraft in the New Mexico desert and parked planes at hangars around the country. That was the easy part. Now, with what is normally the peak summer season behind it and travel proceeding in fits and starts, the airline is continuing to fine-tune every facet of its business, from maintenance to flight planning, as it tries to predict where a wary public will fly, a challenge even in the best of times. “We can really throw away the crystal ball, which was hazy to begin with,” said Ankit Gupta, United’s VP for domestic network planning. This week, the airline announced a $1.8b loss during Q3, with revenues down 78% compared to the same period a year ago. While United said it was ready to “turn the page” from survival to rebuilding, it said it didn’t expect a recovery to begin in earnest until 2022. Passenger volumes for US airlines are down about 65%, according to an industry group, and major carriers have taken on enormous debt as they lose billions of dollars each month. After hopes for a second congressional rescue package faded last month, United furloughed more than 13,000 workers and American Airlines furloughed 19,000. But while every airline is struggling, each struggles in its own way. United relies far more than its rivals on international travel, which is deeply depressed and is expected to take far longer than domestic travel to bounce back. Lucrative business travel will be slow to return, too, and the airline said this week that it had amassed more than $19b in cash and other available funds to cope with the downturn. “We’ve got 12 to 15 months of pain, sacrifice and difficulty ahead,” United’s CE, Scott Kirby, said on an earnings conference call on Thursday. “But we have done what it takes in the initial phases to have confidence — it’s really about confidence — in getting through the crisis and to the other side.” In navigating that path, the airline has focused on finding savings while positioning itself to serve the few passengers who still want to fly. Story has more.<br/>
