The deadly wildfires on the island of Maui are likely to affect visitor — and airline — demand to the island for the “foreseeable future,” analysts at T.D. Cowen said Friday.
25.08.2023 - 14:43 / skift.com / Delta Air Lines / Robert Isom / Rashaad Jorden / Jay Shabat / Matthew Parsons / Delta Air-Lines / Sean Donohue / Jude Bricker / Amelia Deluca / Airlines
Good morning from Skift. It’s Monday, November 21. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Overcast | Google Podcasts
Global airline leaders convened in Dallas recently for the inaugural in-person Skift Aviation Forum, so what critical industry issues did they discuss at the event? Jay Shabat, senior analyst for Skift brand Airline Weekly, explains in his five key takeaways from the Forum.
Shabat writes that while demand for air travel is strong coming out of the pandemic, new travel patterns have emerged. American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said demand has become more spread out, with increasingly flexible work schedules enabling more people to travel on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. However, Sun Country Airlines CEO Jude Bricker warned it’s premature to draw any definite lessons from the current trend. Bricker said many people travel on Tuesday because they can’t afford to do so on the weekend, adding that peak fares are still high.
Flying more sustainably remains a significant challenge for the airline industry, Shabat also notes. Amelia DeLuca, Delta Air Lines’ vice president for sustainability, said there are no easy or short-term solutions to creating greener aviation. Although the airline industry considers sustainable aviation fuels to be an eventual solution, Sean Donohue, CEO of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, said they aren’t available yet at non-coastal city airports.
We turn now to big news from tours and activities platform GetYourGuide. The company is pausing Originals, its tour brand, to devote more resources to improving the customer experience, writes Travel Experiences Reporter Selene Brophy.
GetYourGuide co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Tao Tao emphatically said it’s not giving up on Originals. It launched Originals four years ago in partnership with local operators in destinations it selected using customer booking data. Tao added GetYourGuide would use that data to enhance the customer experience across the platform’s marketplace. Brophy writes it’s uncertain how Originals will evolve, with Tao only saying the company would reveal more information next year.
However, Tao said the Originals tours have been successful in several areas, including creating what he views as better tour experiences for travelers.
Finally, surging airfares and travel costs are driving lawyers involved in international arbitration cases to conduct virtual hearings again, reports Corporate Travel Editor Matthew Parsons.
Parsons writes that virtual proceedings common during the pandemic are coming back in large numbers, adding they’re a compelling cost saver for all parties. Legal firm IMS Consulting & Expert Services argues platforms like Zoom
The deadly wildfires on the island of Maui are likely to affect visitor — and airline — demand to the island for the “foreseeable future,” analysts at T.D. Cowen said Friday.
Aviation contributes only about 3 percent of the greenhouse gases that worsen climate change, but airplanes don’t have good options to switch away from hydrocarbons. So aviation risks becoming a target for anger among green activists, threatening the long-term viability of mass-market leisure flights.
The inaugural Skift Aviation Forum welcomed Robert Isom, the CEO of American Airlines, as its first speaker at the Statler Hotel in downtown Dallas. During the interview he shared how the world’s biggest airline was prepared for the upcoming Thanksgiving vacation, and already looking ahead to the future with a focus on recruiting and training pilots, and staffing the carrier back up.
United Airlines, Alcohol Wipes and Finding New Customer Touch Points: Some passengers want to talk to people. Some do not. United Airlines wants make sure they all have a choice.
Sun Country Airlines CEO Jude Bricker believes it’s premature to draw firm conclusions about the emergence of new travel patterns seven months into the travel industry’s recovery. But Bricker said at the recent Skift Aviation Forum that surging airfares are changing travelers’ behaviors, including driving more consumers to fly on Tuesdays instead of the weekend.
Delta Air Lines is striving to boost its customer satisfaction scores, and the effort is led by Allison Ausband, executive vice president and chief customer experience officer. Ausband oversees about 60,000 workers in Delta’s airport customer service, in-flight service, and reservations and customer care divisions.
Steven Udvar-Házy, the co-founder and executive chairman of lessor Air Lease Corporation, believes the airline industry will likely see more consolidation, especially in Europe. Udvar-Házy said at the recent Skift Aviation Forum in Dallas that while he doubts the continent’s low-cost carriers will be involved in any mergers, he sees Italy’s ITA and TAP Air Portugal as takeover targets.
Sean Donohue, the CEO of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, has seen his airport make a significant rebound from the pandemic, becoming the world’s No. 2 in terms of passenger count.
U.S. and European airlines will benefit from pent-up demand for travel to China after its recent border reopening, but route approvals, fresh Covid-19 testing rules and not enough large aircraft remain barriers to rising sales, analysts and industry officials say.
Good morning from Skift. It’s Friday, February 17. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.
It’s like that bunny in the old Energizer battery commercials: Still going.
Panama’s Copa Airlines is increasing its surcharge for tickets issued in Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport from $12 to $18 per direction.