The Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on the global airline industry is unprecedented; it has already seen a 95 percent decline in traffic, and millions of jobs are at risk.
RT’s Boom Bust spoke to Gary Leff, editor of ViewFromTheWing.com, about the current state and future of the airline industry.
“The airlines themselves will tell you that demand is effectively zero, which is to say that up until recently they had more requests for refunds than new ticket purchases,” Leff said, adding: “It’s a very difficult business to be in.”
According to him, the airline business isn’t going to recover anytime soon. The government bailouts require airlines not to furlough employees or reduce their rates of pay until September 30. However, it is clear that, once this is over, airlines are “going to be smaller than they’ve been in the past.”
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