As COVID-19 rages on, travel does not seem to be at the forefront of anyone’s mind right now — and for good reason.
This sudden halt in travel has brought one type of company to their knees: airlines.
The service that has mastered bringing humans from one place to another as quick as possible is failing. Companies like Delta are preparing their quarterly reports, which state they are losing around $0.51 on their earnings per share. The next quarterly reports are expected to be even worse, however, as nearly all the time in that quarter will be spent in the midst of the pandemic.
Past this time, however, the concern remains of whether airlines will ever get back to their regular number of passengers, or will people’s lingering fears of COVID-19 hold them back from flying again.
Senior Sakshi Lawande talked about the decisions she will have to face when it comes to air travel.
“Due to this COVID-19 outbreak, my family had to cancel our summer trip to India that was approaching in June,” Lawande said. “Obviously it hit us a little hard because we are the only members of our family that reside in the US and we are only able to travel there every 2 years.”
Like Lawande, many other people have been forced to cancel trips. At this moment, going to a potentially crowded space filled with people from all over the world does not seem like a great idea.
Along with that, airplanes are tight constricted spaces, where people have to be close to one another. That would be another obvious hotspot for the virus to transmit within.
Finally, almost no one is traveling to places where the virus has taken over the way of life. All these factors combined have resulted in some of the worst times for airliners. United Airlines is saying the demand is “essentially zero” right now for flights.
Delta, after losing $534 million this quarter (and expecting even worse next quarter), are prepared to have to recover from this for many years to come. Delta’s CEO, Ed Bastain talked about how his company is to proceed in a memo to his employees.
“We are confident that people will begin to travel again,” Bastain said. “We don’t know when it will happen, but we do know that Delta will be a smaller airline for some time, and we should be prepared for a choppy, sluggish recovery even after the virus is contained.”
Lawande says she will fly again so she can continue to see her family when it is safe to do so. Although, she does not think she will think about flying the same again. “I don’t believe I’ll view flights in the same manner as I used to since this pandemic hit because it’s so crowded and social distancing and lots of sanitation are slowly being built into our lives,” Lawande said.
Flying in an airplane will probably be a little different for the next couple years. Some small airlines may struggle to stay afloat and could go under. However, air travel will return, simply because it must.
