It’s been interesting to see Delta’s expansion from month to month. After nearly all flights stopped in March, April’s schedule was better, albeit not all that much improved. The month of May showed some changes here and there but there were more flights than in April. Their schedule for June was even better and in July they touted over 1,000 more flights, as well as the reintroduction of flights to China and Australia.
However cases of coronavirus in the United States are in a heavy upswing, the border with Canada is still closed, the EU and other countries won’t let us visit, and some states are ordering quarantines for travelers from other states. Between all those factors, on top of just wanting to ensure they stay safe, people are simply not flying nearly as much as they had. Instead, they’re staying closer to home, road trips are on the rise, and RV rentals have seen growth like never before.
Delta’s Chief Executive Ed Bastian apparently sees the writing on the wall. He said in an internal memo last week that although the airline continues to see a slow but steady increase in passenger volumes as they go into the summer travel season, they expect overall demand in summer 2020 to only be 25% of what had been summer 2019’s revenue.
Bastian suggested that Delta Air Lines expects to add about 1,000 flights in August but the U.S carrier is unlikely to add “many more” flights for the remainder of the year.
“While it’s encouraging to see flights returning…we likely remain at least two years away from a return to normal,” Bastian continued.
*** Feature Photo: Delta
#stayhealthy #staysafe #washyourhands
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
1 comment
Slightly off topic, but related to Delta. We have an international cruise in October (booked over a year ago) with Delta being our air carrier. Without notice to us (they did notify travel agent) of the change. Usually the changes are not a big deal, however this is the second time in a row we’ve had an issue. Seems our connecting time in Boston was more than adequate, but our connecting time in AMS was 10 minutes (to a Delta codeshare with KLM)! And since it was purchased through the cruise line, the cruise line had to rebook the flight (Delta won’t talk to me). It wasn’t easy (due to limited availability of certain fares), but we finally rebooked into a more feasible connection. My guess, there will be more changes before October.