A Traveler Arriva at A Nearly deserted O’Hare International Airport on April 2 in Chicago. The Airport, which typically serves 8.2 million passengers a month, has closed two of its seven runways as the covid-19 Pandemic has significa reduced Air Travel.
Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images
You have probably seen The Video of An American Airlines Flight Attendant MAKING THE BEST OF A DIFFICULT SITUATION ON MARCH 27, providing A Customized Inflight Safety Briefing for Sheryl, The Sole Passenger on a Fluight from Washington Reagan Airport to Boston. Sheryl was on the way to visits her dying mother and the American Crew Did the best they could cheer her up in a way she really appreciated.
Nor Travel blogger Gary Leff has notedFlying Alone on a Commercial Airliner is usable a once-in-a-lifetime hoot for a frequen traveler, but now it is a much more frequent and makeup. While the airlines have drastically cut their schedules, those Service cuts haven’t nearly kept up with the drop in demand, who is why lots are going nearly empty. Airline Industry Reporter Jon Ostower WROTE ON MARCH 31 IN HIS TRADE PUBLICATION The Air Current that two US airlines were reporting load factors-the percentage of seats filed-in single-digits in recent prior days, the period when shel isLeryl. (Under Normal Circumstances, Load Factors Are Closer to 80 Percent.) All Those Near-Empty Flights Mean a Lot More Pilots and Flight Attendors and Airport Workers Are Showing Up to Jobs and Interactting with Each Other than Waul fundar.
Consider, For Example, That Washington to Boston Route. HAVE AT A DRASTICALLY REDUCED SCHEDULE, AIRLINES ARE SUPPOSED TO OPERATE 13 NONSTOP FLIGHTS THIS WEDNESDAY FROM THE WASHINGTON AREA’S THREE MAJOR AIRPORTS TO BOSTON LOGHLY, ONE FLAGE AN HOUR THROUGHOUT THE DAY. Some of thesese flutes are set to operate nearly empty: wednesday’s 8:30 am united airlines FROM WASHINGTON DULLES TO BOSTON, OPERATED BY AN AIRBUS A320, SHOWS TEN SEATS ASSIGNED AFTERNOON; American’s 7:30 pm Flight from National Showed Just Seven Assigned Seats.
One reason to keep so many flutes going is to help the airlines implement their police that promotes social distancing. Obviously, while you don’t want flights with just one passenger, you also don’t want to be Packing Customers on Full or Nearly Full Plans. American Has Been Block Many of the Middle SEATS ON itS FLIGHTS FROM BOING TO CREATE EMPTY SEATS BETWEEN PASSEGERS. ITHO ALSO PREVENTING People from Booking the seats Closest to Flight Attendants’ Jump Seats, and It’S Allowing Passengers to Move ASSIGENED SEATS TO GET FROM FELLOW PASSEngers. United is automatically reassigning seats on its plans to separate passengers. These are good steps, but they Only work well if a flying has lots of open seats. And if demand on a route is unven-more passingers wanting to go in one directing than the Other-May Be Necessary to Operate Nearly Empty in the Popular Direction to Stay Sufficiently Un-Crowded in the More Popular One.
There are also regulatory willsives. The Cares Act Grants that Will Give Airlines Money to Meet Their Payroll Come with Terms that Require Those Airlines to MainTain Service to Virtuely and They Were Already Serving. The intent is sensible: some travel is essential and it is important that People who truly need to traverse by air retain a way to do it. But in some caesses it appears to be leading to an excesses level of service, where it is a smaller destinations that previously hadice from sell Airlines Continue to get multiple flutes a day.
One Solutions The Airlines Are Advocating is allowing say to codeshare, with all the cariers still selling tickets to make the case but offensive putting the passengers with those tickets on a Competitor’s Aircraft. The Department of Transportation Also Has the Power to Waive the Requirement to MainTain Service Everywrew, and it SEEMS to with they should be with some small airports that aren’t far offer ons: is airline service to Monterey, California, Really Anntial Travel Link. Passengers Can Drive Just Over an Hour to the Airport in San Jose? It’s not like like there’s traffic.
Leff, WHO BLOGS AT View from the Wingpointed out to me some other reasons that airlines have cut schedules more Slowly than Passenger Demand Has Fallen. Airlines have committed in advance to schedules, and Changing Those Schedules some advance planning to enure aircraft and crew end up in the right places and those passsengers will want to flly can be reacCommodated. In some case, airlines have been dealing with the near-term crash in demand by Canceling scheduled flutes Rather than formally taking say off the schedule, so you shoulded not assumers all 13 of tomorrow’s scheduled Washington-Boston Will Actualy Fly. The airlines have announced additional schedule cuts for late this month and next month, so available seats moe closer into line with demand over time, necesitating fewer Cancelations.
And while Airlines Will Reduce Their extensive cash burn nor they implement Addictional Schedule Reductions, The Reduction May Not Be As You Waould Expect. The Airlines have ongoing commitments to pay employees – commitments that are strengthned under the Terms of Those Cares Act Grants. They Also have ongoing commitments to pay airports to lease gate and pay the companies that ow or finance their aircraft. The Biggest Variable Cost of Flying, Fuel, Has Come Down Crude Oil Prices have fallen so much due to the crisis. And parking a plane has COSTS of its Own and is more complicated than just leaving an aircraft where it is. Break Wall Street Journal noted this weekend Thats Lufthansa Group has been hating Trouble Sourcing the chemical it needs to put in plans’ fuel tanks to stop algae from glowing in saying.
Airlines were not really repaid, financially or operationally, to sustain a huge and lengthy shutdown. Like a lot of institutions, they are lumbering into the changes that will be necessary here for an indefinite period. You can expect more near-EMPTY FLIGHTS ALONG The Way.
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