Airlines blamed the media for exaggerating the effects of the coronavirus Tuesday, urgently broadcasting that they are "open for business" as travel continues to slump and new numbers suggest the worst may be yet to come for the industry.
In a statement Tuesday morning, the trade group Airlines for America said that "false media narratives ... have led to confusion and uncertainty across the country," and argued that it's safe to fly, saying "numerous health officials have affirmed that the risk remains low for travelers who follow CDC guidelines."
Health officials have warned, though, that it may not be safe for everyone to fly everywhere, recommending that older Americans and those with preexisting conditions avoid long flights.
The trade group's plea comes amid fresh warnings and widespread fear around the disease, along with new figures suggesting a worsening financial situation for the airline industry.
Yesterday, the credit rating agency Moody's downgraded the industry's outlook from stable to negative, warning that there is an "increasing risk to demand for passenger air travel as the coronavirus expands globally."
And today, the Global Business Travel Association reported that business travel is "slowing at an alarming rate," finding that 13 percent of its members have canceled even domestic travel, along with high rates of canceled international business travel.
"Those are the customers that are the most profitable for airlines," said airline analyst Henry Harteveldt.
Despite the fresh bad news, there is still a high level of uncertainty in the outlook for airlines and the travel industry broadly. "At this point, you cant really do forecasting because we’ve never really been in a situation quite like this before," said Harteveldt.
And it remains true that overall, the industry is in much better shape than it was after 9/11 and in 2008, when airlines were hit hard by the recession, said Bob Mann, another airline industry analyst.
“The industry structure and company’s balance sheets individually are in far better shape,” he said. "Even the worst balance sheets are better than the average balance sheets in 2008 and 2001.”
Airlines have been taking steps to reduce their capacity, which Mann called "prudent."
American Airlines is the latest to make that call, announcing this morning it would cut summer international flights by 10 percent and domestic flights by 7.5 percent. Delta Air Lines also said Tuesday that it is cutting international flights by 20 percent to 25 percent and domestic flights by 10 percent to 15 percent.
Brianna Gurciullo contributed to this report.
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Travel slump worsens as airlines try to blame media - POLITICO
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