Major Airlines See Continuing Business Travel Recovery
Southwest, American and Alaska all report steady growth in earnings calls >>
by: Harvey Chipkin
A number of major airlines see a continuing recovery in business travel, according to executives on second quarter earnings calls. Tom Nealon, president of Southwest Airlines, said that business travel revenues improved from down 77% in May compared with 2019 to down 69% in June. That decline had been 88% for the full first quarter of 2021. He added, “Just so you know, when I talk about business revenue, I'm really referring to managed business travel.” At American Airlines, Alison Taylor, chief customer officer, said business travel from large corporate customers increased 80% in the second quarter compared with the first quarter. She said the carrier’s travel remains less concentrated on peak days of the week, “but the booking curve for corporate traffic continues to normalize toward 2019 levels.” In addition, according to Vasu Raja, chief revenue officer, there has been an increase in traditional “business-style” itineraries, such as one-day trips or overnight trips with no checked bags. And at Alaska Airlines, Andrew Harrison, chief commercial officer, said the carrier has been encouraged by “an acceleration of the return of business travel” in the past three weeks. The carrier now expects to reach 50% of 2019 business travel volume before the end of the year, he said.
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