It was through a third bankruptcy in 2001 that TWA was sold to American Airlines. The airline went through bankruptcy in 1992. But the reason it was an attractive buyout target even then was because its assets were of greater value than the airline. “That’s what Southwest’s entrance provides, more options and more choices.The demise of TWA is often blamed on investor Carl Icahn who acquired the airline in 1988 through a leveraged buyout. “Anytime a carrier adds service, you get a range of flight schedules that might be available for choosing, more inventory and more price competition,” he said. When it does, those travelers will be looking for flexibility and options. The industry has been through downturns before when people predicted business travel would never be the same, but it has always bounced back, Hilfman said. The Global Business Travel Association expects to see some recovery in the second half of this year as vaccines become more widely available, but a full return to pre-pandemic corporate travel could take until 2025, said Dave Hilfman, the association’s interim executive director. Small and medium businesses have been more willing to travel during the pandemic than large corporations, especially when it comes to sales operations, which can depend on in-person contact, but recovery has been “very slow going,” Harvey said. Southwest has long had a reputation as a leisure-focused airline but says it had a “healthy mix” of business travelers before the pandemic nearly brought corporate travel to a halt. “There are quite a few corporations that say, ‘If you don’t serve our primary airport, you’re never going to get your fair share of our business,” he said. There’s at least one group that may be more willing to fly Southwest at O’Hare, according to Harvey: business travelers north of the city. In June, for each Southwest flight planned at O’Hare, there are 15 at Midway, where the airline accounts for 90.5% of all scheduled passenger flights, according to data from travel analytics company Cirium.Įven with a relatively small number of flights, adding service at O’Hare gives travelers choices and could help Southwest grow as travel recovers, industry analysts said. Southwest may add additional flights at O’Hare as demand for travel grows, but Midway will continue to be the airline’s “anchor” in Chicago, Harvey said. All of the employees at O’Hare are existing Southwest employees, including about half who transferred from Midway and half who transferred from other cities where the airline operates. All are destinations the airline already serves at Midway, and Southwest said fares would be similar at both airports.Ībout 80 Southwest employees will work at O’Hare out of more than 5,000 workers total in Chicago, the airline said. Southwest will add three Saturday flights from O’Hare to Orlando in March. “It has to be taken seriously, especially at this time when demand is hard to find at the right prices and airlines are having to pivot their networks to find what revenue they can,” Mann said. since the pandemic began, except for basic economy passengers. Southwest also doesn’t charge some common fees, like checked bag fees and flight change fees, though United, American and Delta Air Lines have also eliminated change fees on flights departing the U.S. It could have an impact on fares as travel recovers, especially when it comes to last-minute tickets, Mann said. Still, Southwest has a broad network that makes it more attractive to a wider pool of customers than leisure-focused budget airlines, said Robert Mann, a New York-based airline industry consultant. Southwest will likely offer bargain fares initially, but “will, like any airline, want to secure the highest fares possible over time,” Grant said. While low-cost carriers like Southwest usually have a bigger impact on legacy carriers’ fares, Southwest already has an established presence in Chicago and the pandemic has pushed domestic airfares to “historic lows,” Damodaran said.
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