Southwest, United see weak demand over holidays, Q1

United warned Thursday that bookings have slowed and cancellations have increased as the number of coronavirus infections spikes across the country. Southwest has also seen more cancellations, and the carrier’s CEO said that travel demand will be remain weak in Q1. The number of people flying in the US is down about 65% from a year ago, and airlines were hoping that the upcoming holidays would mean an increase in leisure travel. United said however that it continues to see the virus hurting travel. In the past week, “there has been a deceleration in system bookings and an uptick in cancellations as a result of the recent spike in COVID-19 cases,” United said in a regulatory filing. United expects to operate no more than 45% of its normal schedule in Q4. and it continues to forecast a 67% decline in revenue compared with last year’s Q4. Southwest officials said bookings are rising for the holidays but so are cancellations — they didn’t provide numbers for either.<br/>