Analyst: Airlines bank on leisure travel as COVID makes business trips rare

Leslie Josephs@LESLIEJOSEPHS

Nearly 7 months of a global coronavirus pandemic has turned airlines’ most price-sensitive customers into a prize.

Analysts say major airlines are dropping fees and reshaping their once-sprawling global networks to focus more on domestic vacation destinations as leisure travelers become more important. That’s on top of new rules, such as mandatory masks, put in place to entice travelers worried about flying during the pandemic.

New data shows eighty-five percent of respondents in a Global Business Travel Association study conducted Sept. 15-19 have canceled most or all business trips this year. Close to a third of the 1,364 people polled said they expect their employees to resume in-person events and conferences in the second quarter of 2021.

Henry Harteveldt, president of Atmosphere Research Group and a former airline executive added, “The leisure traveler is the traveler today."

More: CNBC.COM


View Full Site