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Old 05-02-2020 | 06:13 AM
  #53  
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bradthepilot
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Originally Posted by DarkSideMoon
If, for example, 1 million people traveled on average per day last April, but 1.5 did in May, you can't point to a April to May rise this year and think that things are getting better.
I disagree, at least from the perspective that last year's numbers have any relevance towards where we find ourselves today. If this year was "normal" i.e. similar to last year in economic / health / social respects then I'd 100% agree with you. But this year is, obviously, significantly different. And based on that, I submit that in order to detect a bottom (not "the" bottom - agree with you there) you only need to look at data going back to roughly February or March where traffic was at nominal levels. I do think week-over-week is important, because travel on Saturday is different than on Tuesday, for example. I haven't seen anything to indicate a day-of-the-week behavior change, but if it shows up I'll adjust my math accordingly.

We are looking at two different things, really. You're looking at the counts, and I'm looking at the first order derivative of those counts. Right now, as I mentioned, I think the rate of change is more important than the actual (miniscule) passenger numbers. The derivative suggested around March 23rd that the trend was beginning to reverse and by April 3rd it was obvious a bottom was going to appear later in the month. Said another way, I think you're looking for when things are back to normal and right now I'm more interested in evidence that we've started back towards that goal rather than when we get there.

But I do agree this is mostly academic at this point - in terms of actual numbers, the industry can't survive on what exists now. And past numbers are no guarantee of future performance.