Originally Posted by
chrisreedrules
Legacies depend on higher load factors than other majors in order to be profitable. They can’t make money leaving the middle seat open on an A321.
I think AA is at a severely high risk of Ch 11. If any one legacy declares it will greatly increase the chances that the others declare also.
Airlines are offering social distancing on aircraft right now because they can do it for free. When not even 1/3 of the seats sell, keeping the middle seat open is easy. When demand returns, those seats will be sold and occupied. If some sort of government mandate required leaving seats open, the cost of a ticket would go through the roof and air travel would be priced out of most people’s budget. If a company blocks 1/3 of the seats, they have to increase the ticket price on the remaining seats by 50% to generate the same revenue. The LCC’s who specialize in leisure travel would really be hit hard if this happened.