American expects business travel to return more quickly

American Airlines says business travel is returning more quickly than originally expected, and leisure bookings will continue to remain strong through the coming months. The Fort Worth-based carrier says on 3 June that 47 of its top 50 corporate accounts have announced a full return to travel by the end of the year. “We are starting to see some encouraging signs that when travel restrictions are eased, [business] travel returns quickly,” the carrier’s president Robert Isom tells the Bernstein Strategic Decisions investor conference on 3 June. “We are encouraged by what we are seeing.” Earlier in the day, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the airline reported “continued strength in net bookings and load factors”. “As of June 2, the company’s seven-day moving average of its net bookings was approximately 90% of the level experienced in the same period of 2019,” the airline writes in the filing. “In addition, the company’s domestic load factor for the month of May was approximately 84% and greater than 88% over the Memorial Day holiday.” The Memorial Day long weekend, which is the last weekend of May, is traditionally one of the year’s strongest travel weekends, and kicks off the summer holiday season in the USA.<br/>