European Airlines' Uncertain Summer

While U.S. CEOs Chill the Champagne, Europe's Airlines Expect a Different Summer

Pushing Back: Inside the Issue

After the first week of U.S. airline industry earnings calls last month, one thing became clear: U.S. airline CEOs expect leisure demand to go through the roof as people cooped up from more than a year of lockdowns flock to beaches, national parks, theme parks, and to go visit Grandma. After a week of European airline earnings, however, another thing becomes clear: European CEOs are much more muted. The pace of vaccinations has been much slower across Europe (with some notable exceptions) than in the U.S. Moreover, several European countries maintain strict travel restrictions. Despite European Union officials saying the bloc could welcome vaccinated tourists this summer, there isn't a single standard for vaccine documentation and verification — and meanwhile the summer season starts in just a few weeks.

Elsewhere in this issue, lessors believe airlines will lease a larger portion of their fleets after the pandemic recedes. U.S. startup Avelo heads to the East Coast (after launching in California last month). Allegiant bats away threats posed by startups (including Avelo, headed by former Allegiant executive Andrew Levy). Norse Atlantic tries to head off complaints that plagued Norwegian by meeting with a key U.S. union. Air Canada calls on its country's government to ease restrictions. copa And we crunch the numbers on how green the six largest global airlines are.

Verbulence

"We would expect bookings to recover if governments are serious about reopening. People want to fly."

IAG CEO Luis Gallego

The Airline Weekly Lounge Podcast

New episodes drop every week and are available wherever you get your podcasts and on AirlineWeekly.com. In the latest podcast, Edward "Ned" Russell and Madhu Unnikrishnan talk about Ned's field trip to American's MRO in Tulsa, Okla., as well as what the summer might hold for European airlines. Listen to the episode.