Air travel drops in US for first time since April amid coronavirus surge

Air travel across the United States has dropped for the first time since April as coronavirus cases surge across the country and airlines struggle to avoid layoffs amid the pandemic. 

The number of passengers traveling through security checkpoints at airports across the country in the week ending July 19 dropped by four percent compared to the previous week, according to data from the Transportation Security Administration.

The data shows it is the first weekly percentage drop since April when the number of passengers started to increase again after hitting record lows. 

Yet air travel is still down considerably compared to last year after the coronavirus pandemic brought travel to a near standstill in March when travel restrictions and lockdowns were enforced in the majority of states.

On Sunday, more than 747,000 passengers were screened at TSA checkpoints compared to the 2.7 million on the same day last year.  

The slight decrease in summer travel demand comes amid a new spike in cases and as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo imposed a self-quarantine order for travelers coming in from states with high COVID-19 cases. 

Airlines who are already grappling with less travel demand are now also struggling to avoid layoffs as the expiry for the $25 billion in government bailout funds nears.

Southwest Airlines has received interest from 28 percent of its workers for extended leave or exit deals, Chief Executive Gary Kelly told employees on Monday, while Delta Air Lines said it was reviewing its pilot staffing after 2,234 bids for early retirement. 

Airlines have warned they must shrink due to the coronavirus pandemic and are encouraging employees to accept voluntary departure deals in the hope of avoiding involuntary furloughs in the fall, when $25 billion in government bailout funds run out.  

Southwest, with around 60,900 employees in 2019, said it would accept applications from 4,400 for early retirement and evaluate nearly 12,500 requests for extended time off packages.

One person who reviewed the numbers said they represented around 24 percent of Southwest pilots and 33 percent of flight attendants. 

Air travel is still down considerably compared to last year after the coronavirus pandemic brought travel to a near standstill in March when travel restrictions and lockdowns were enforced in the majority of states. Pictured is a passenger in Atlanta, Georga on July 2

Southwest Airlines has received interest from 28 percent of its workers for extended leave or exit deals, Chief Executive Gary Kelly told employees on Monday

Meanwhile, Delta spokesman Michael Thomas said early retirement bids from 2,234 pilots before a Sunday deadline was ‘meaningful progress as we look to mitigate furloughs’. 

The company is working to determine next steps and its overall pilot staffing outlook, he said.

Last month Delta sent furlough warnings to around 2,500 pilots, though airlines are generally reluctant to lose pilots because of the timely and costly training needed to bring them back.

If a COVID-19 vaccine is developed and demand returns, airlines want to respond quickly. But for now, many have warned that bookings that began to rise in May and June from dramatic lows in April have leveled off or even fallen due to a rise in COVID-19 cases in some parts of the country.

U.S. airline shares lost 3.4 percent by midday on Monday.

American Airlines and United Airlines have also offered voluntary departure deals while together sending more than 60,000 warnings of potential furloughs to their employees, even as discussions heat up in Washington for a new round of government bailouts.

United, American and Southwest will each publish quarterly results this week.