Airlines

The number of people passing through U.S. airports in the first five days of July rose more than 90% from a month ago, federal data shows.

American Airlines chief executive Doug Parker has warned staffers that the airline will likely have an overage of employees of between 10 to 20 per cent by July 2021 owing to the continued impact of the Corona crisis. Flight attendants are likely to be one of the hardest-hit workgroups Parker warned at an employee Town Hall meeting last week, while pilots may be saved because of the high costs involved in recruiting and training them.

Carrier joins United in forgoing coronavirus measure as travel begins to rebound.

U.S. airline shares fell sharply Wednesday after state officials in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut said they were imposing a two-week quarantine on travelers arriving from certain states whose coronavirus infection rates have been on the rise.

Hoping to make flying safer, Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday will begin testing thermal cameras to identify passengers with high body temperatures as a way of slowing the spread of the coronavirus.

JetBlue Airways published a simple press release Thursday announcing 30 new routes starting this summer and fall, mainly for leisure customers, to leverage a nascent recovery. But to insiders, it was more — a manifesto showing that JetBlue, now in survival mode, no longer plans to play by the industry’s unwritten rules.

Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) said on Wednesday it has enough cash to carry on business for the next two years, up from its prior forecast of 20 months, as travel demand gradually picks up.

United Airlines (UAL.O) sweetened on Tuesday a voluntary exit package for frontline employees like flight attendants and gate agents, saying it needed “a lot more people to sign up” to avoid involuntary layoffs in October, according to a staff email seen by Reuters.

Investors don’t seem to trust the multi-year order backlogs of Boeing and Airbus, but airlines can’t easily walk back plane-purchase commitments.

American Airlines Group Inc (AAL.O) and Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N) said on Wednesday that a modest recovery in demand was helping to slow daily cash burn rates in June after the U.S. government reported record low passenger numbers in April amid the coronavirus pandemic.