Omicron is a setback, but won’t stop airline recovery: United’s Kirby

United CE Scott Kirby believes Omicron – the highly mutated variant of Covid-19 recently discovered in South Africa – will be a short-term setback for airlines, but won’t stop the industry from moving toward full recovery. As coronavirus continues to mutate – and governments and pharmaceutical companies respond with better policies, vaccines and therapeutics – the airline industry’s path toward recovery will be two steps forward and one step back, Kirby says at the Airline Passenger Experience Association Expo on 30 November in Long Beach, California. “The recovery from Covid was never going to be a straight line. We never thought it was,” says Kirby. However, the recovery “continues to trend in the right direction”. The United CE says not enough is known about Omicron yet to predict with certainty its impact on business. “But my guess is, much like Delta, it will cause a short-term decline in demand,” says Kirby. “But the trough will be at a higher level than the trough was after Delta. And the next peak will again be higher. And, we’re going to continue this way.” The industry will likely continue this pattern of recovery and setback until the whole world is vaccinated, he says. In the near term, Omicron will likely reduce demand for international travel due to border restrictions and passenger concern about getting infected. Travel within the USA will likely also be impacted, but less so, Kirby says.<br/>