What's an Airline Nightmare? No Spring Break
The aerospace industry was already showing cracks before the coronavirus hit. United’s latest flight cutbacks signal real trouble.
Spring break is still on, for now.
Photographer: Sean Drakes/Getty Images South AmericaIf coronavirus fears sap demand for U.S. domestic flights, the aerospace industry is in real trouble.
United Airlines Holdings Inc. became the first carrier to officially reduce its U.S. flight schedule amid an uptick in infected Americans and a wave of canceled events and business travel. The company will trim U.S. flights by 10% in April and cut international capacity by 20%, with similar reductions likely to occur in May, according to an email to employees from United CEO Oscar Munoz and President Scott Kirby. “We certainly hope that these latest measures are enough, but the dynamic nature of this outbreak requires us to be nimble and flexible moving forward,” Munoz and Kirby said in the memo, as reported by Bloomberg News. In the meantime, United is offering staff an unpaid leave of absence, deferring the payout of merit-based raises and implementing a hiring freeze through June 30.