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United Airlines CE Scott Kirby has become the first boss of a big US carrier to warn the Omicron coronavirus variant is a threat to transatlantic travel. “My guess is we’ll have less flying to Europe than we would have in January” because of the new variant, Kirby said as concerns grow that Omicron could disrupt one of the world’s most important airline routes. The company has stopped short of cutting flights to Europe or Africa because of the variant, but Kirby fears passenger numbers will drop on some of its key routes after Omicron’s discovery in South Africa and Botswana last week. However, he is not anticipating the variant will change the overall outlook of the airline, which has bet on a significant expansion in long-haul flights, including five new ones from the US to London from next March, which prompted the carrier’s largest order of new planes. While it’s “too early to know for sure, my guess is that it will have a short-term impact, but the long-term forecast is not any different than it was before”, he said. The airline will continue with new flights to Lagos, which detected its first Omicron cases this week, and the relaunch of flights to Cape Town, where the variant is spreading rapidly, because of passenger demand and the need to fly cargo to those regions. But “we’ll wait and see”, Kirby added. The airline currently operates eight flights per week between the US east coast and Johannesburg and Accra, Ghana, in addition to its Cape Town and Lagos routes.<br/>

The spread of the Covid omicron variant across the world could further delay the travel industry’s recovery, a fresh challenge just as international trips were on the upswing after a 20-month slump. The variant, first reported by South African scientists last week with the first US case confirmed in California on Wednesday, has sparked a new host of travel restrictions that took many travelers by surprise, leaving some stranded as several countries temporarily barred flights or arriving passengers from the region. On Thursday, the US said inbound international travelers, including American citizens, will have to show proof of a negative Covid test that was taken within one day of departure, up from three days for vaccinated arrivals and regardless of vaccination status. That change takes effect on Monday. Some aviation executives, however, are upbeat that demand will continue to recover despite the variant in the longer term. “Obviously we’ve seen higher cancellations but it’s really too early to tell,” United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby told reporters Thursday at a hangar at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after it flew one of its jets half-powered by sustainable aviation fuel. Kirby said he doesn’t expect bookings to go down as much as they did for the delta variant. “The next peak will be at a higher level,” he said. General Electric Aviation CEO John Slattery said airline customers are still planning for “a strong spring and strong summer.” “My hope is that the governments around the world will support an open-border philosophy and policy,” Slattery said at the same United event.<br/>

United plans to move the network operations center that coordinates its flights globally to a Chicago suburb next year, slashing headcount at the carrier’s world headquarters at Blackstone’s Willis Tower. The move was announced internally on Thursday and would affect about 900 employees such as managers and technical support staff, United said. About 400 flight dispatchers could eventually join them. The airline is in contract talks with their union, whose collective bargaining agreement requires that they be based at Willis, according to Craig Symons, the union’s leader. Another 2,500 headquarters staffers will continue to work at the iconic skyscraper formerly known as Sears Tower, where United is plowing millions of dollars into renovations. That’s “roughly the same number of employees we had in the city 10 years ago,” company spokesman Charlie Hobart said by email. “In terms of whether United is considering moving its headquarters out of downtown, the answer is no. We remain committed to the city of Chicago.” The airline plans to make a new complex in Arlington Heights, Illinois, its primary nerve center effective April 1, with Willis serving as a back-up, David Kensick, a managing director for the airline, wrote in a memo. United closed a deal Wednesday to purchase the suburban facility, which had played a supporting role since it was opened last year by providing socially distant work stations for staff during the Covid-19 pandemic.<br/>