05-04-2020, 02:19 PM
And regarding the airlines, I don't think the situation is that bad. It's certainly not pretty but it's not the end of the world.
I don't know for the airlines in the states, how much traffic is actually business travel and/or work related and how much is pure leisure?
Because I know that in Europe the very large majority is vacation travel, and that will get back on track VERY fast once movement restrictions are lifted. Business travel might be a whole different topic though, maybe finally people will suddenly come to the conclusion that with all of today's technology you don't need to fly several hours to have a half day meeting with someone else?
Also, again this is in Europe, but there are talks about "banning" the middle seat in aircraft. Just talks, nothing sure yet. I really don't know if that is plausible, because in the regular narrow body 3x3 seating that would mean a loss of revenue of 33% with 100% load factor. That is in no way a sustainable business model for airlines and basically putting a small wall of plexiglass or similar between the passengers would probably be about the same when it comes to safety.
But whatever the situation is, I think airlines that are not super dependent on business travel will survive just fine if they can get through the next few months.
I don't know for the airlines in the states, how much traffic is actually business travel and/or work related and how much is pure leisure?
Because I know that in Europe the very large majority is vacation travel, and that will get back on track VERY fast once movement restrictions are lifted. Business travel might be a whole different topic though, maybe finally people will suddenly come to the conclusion that with all of today's technology you don't need to fly several hours to have a half day meeting with someone else?
Also, again this is in Europe, but there are talks about "banning" the middle seat in aircraft. Just talks, nothing sure yet. I really don't know if that is plausible, because in the regular narrow body 3x3 seating that would mean a loss of revenue of 33% with 100% load factor. That is in no way a sustainable business model for airlines and basically putting a small wall of plexiglass or similar between the passengers would probably be about the same when it comes to safety.
But whatever the situation is, I think airlines that are not super dependent on business travel will survive just fine if they can get through the next few months.