Originally Posted by
iahflyr
Demand is down so much that Delta had to cut their Q1 earnings forecast in half in Mid-March! American had to double their loss forecast!
Cutting your profit forecast in half is a big issue.
Cutting it in half in Mid-March means that the big drop in demand came midway through the quarter. Had this demand drop been the entire quarter, Delta would have a loss for Q1 and American’s loss would be even more.
This isn’t fear mongering. These are facts.
People have become far too comfortable in the post covid airline world. Profits, load factors, and hiring have redefined the “normal” so much that any shift from that is considered to be the sky falling.
Q1 had historically been a losing quarter for airlines during the post holiday travel surge. An unfortunate cost of doing business that would be absorbed by summer and holiday travel later in the year. The fact that airlines are even posting any profit right now is still impressive.
The economy, politics, air travel, etc. is in constant flux right now. Today’s news isn’t indicative of tomorrow’s. I’m not going to clutch my pearls yet.