Smoother Summer for Air Travel Expected
After a year in which U.S. airlines logged a record number of flight delays, travelers can expect to see fewer service disruptions, less crowded planes and more fare discounts this summer.
Though some disruptions are inevitable, some customers are reporting smoother rides as the summer travel season begins.
Such praise was rare in 2000. A United Airlines labor dispute led to more than 27,000 cancellations and a larger number of delays, eroding service in an industry plagued by overcrowded planes and airports. As total passenger traffic rose 5.7%, seat capacity grew just 3.6% over the previous year, the airlines said. U.S. flight delays rose 20% to a record 450,289 and just 72.6% of major airlines’ flights were on time, government figures show.
“We’re coming off of two awful summers in terms of delays,” Salomon Smith Barney analyst Brian Harris said. “This summer will be better.”
During the seven-day period that started Wednesday, which includes the Memorial Day holiday weekend and marks the start of the summer travel season, the Air Transport Assn. expects 13.5 million people to take to the air. Though that’s up about 1% from 13.4 million last year, the association expects passengers to find planes less crowded on average.
Carriers have added 2.7% more seat and flight capacity this year, but passenger traffic, based on the number of miles flown by paying passengers, has risen just 2%.
Airlines may rely more on leisure travelers this year because corporate fliers, who typically account for the bulk of their revenue, are traveling less as their companies cut back spending because of the slowing U.S. economy. The reduction in business travel contributed to the $766-million loss the industry reported in the first quarter.
U.S. airlines typically get about 40% of their passenger revenue, or $37 billion of $94 billion last year, from leisure travel, with the bulk of that coming from summer vacationers.
So far this year, some carriers, including the biggest--AMR Corp.’s American Airlines of Fort Worth, Texas--are seeing a decline in leisure demand. The head of UAL Corp., which operates No. 2 United, said earlier this month that United’s leisure demand isn’t softening.
With the prospect of more empty seats, airlines may try to lure passengers with discounted fares, analysts said. Most U.S. airlines offered spring fare sales or Internet promotions and are expected to list more in the next few months.
“For the pleasure traveler, there are going to be more seats, and I think eventually they’re going to be coming at a lower price,” said Terry Trippler, who monitors travel and fares for 1travel.com.
The threat of strikes or worker slowdowns has subsided this summer, even though some carriers are involved in contract talks. President Bush said in March he will look to squelch strikes, and the airlines have been winning court orders to bar worker slowdowns.
Major U.S. airlines had 30,040 delays in March, down from 32,205 in the year-earlier month, the Federal Aviation Administration said in its most recent report. In the first quarter, airlines completed 75.2% of their flights on time, better than the 72.6% average for all of last year, according to the Department of Transportation.
Aircraft congestion has been partly to blame for delays and cancellations often made worse by bad weather. Rising travel demand is fueling the congestion as carriers add more flights.
Airlines and regulators say new runways, airport expansion and better air-traffic control equipment are needed. For now, airlines and the government are cooperating more and some schedules have been altered.
“We think we’ve taken a number of steps to help minimize the disruption and to minimize the delays,” FAA Administrator Jane Garvey said last week.
