US and European airlines warned on Wednesday of grim outlooks for the coming months, cutting schedules as passengers continue to avoid air travel during the pandemic. Ryanair, Europe’s largest low-cost airline, reduced its forecast for passengers it expects to carry in the fiscal year to March, as the carrier warned this winter will be “a write-off’.
Finnair, Finland’s flagship airline, said it would operate no more than 80 flights daily in October compared with the 200 previously planned. In the US, traditional network carrier United Airlines said its capacity would fall 70 percent compared with the third quarter of 2019. The company’s earlier guidance was a fall of 65 percent. Revenue, too, will be lower than executives forecast: down 85 percent from the $11.4bn a year earlier, not 83 percent.
The cuts are part of an industry pattern where airlines announce ambitious flying schedules only to trim them as departure dates approach and passengers fail to materialise. Industry body Iata said airlines globally are projected to lose a record $84bn this year.
‘We‘re really focused on rethinking the network
Patrick Quayle. United’s vice-president of international network and alliances
EasyJet cut its flight schedule earlier this week. Ryanair now expects to carry 50m passengers in the 12 months to the end of March, down from the 6om projected in July. The airline had forecast more than 150m passengers before the pandemic Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O’Leary said the airline could cut more flights in the coming months. “We’re probably looking at closing more bases and withdrawing more capacity in those countries where you’re operating completely defective and non scientific quarantines,” he told Reuters.
The airline industry’s recovery hopes have been hit hard by rising coronavirus cases across many countries in Europe and parts of the US, as well as travel restrictions including the UK’s requirement that passengers returning from most countries self-isolate for 14 days. The industry is pushing for the adoption of testing on arrival at airports to help cut quarantine times and encourage people back into the sky, a system the UK government is considering.