American Airlines Group Inc. said Wednesday that it is preparing to operate an almost normal summer schedule, anticipating that widespread vaccination will trigger appetite for travel.
American is one of several airlines that have added flights to the United States and nearby destinations such as Mexico and the Caribbean, taking signs of growing demand as people have begun booking travel again. American said it would fly 150 new routes this summer and now expects to offer more than 90% of its pre-pandemic seat capacity in the United States and 80% of its international capacity.
Summer is usually the busiest and most lucrative time for airlines, but the coronavirus pandemic shattered their hopes for last summer’s travel season. Operators such as the American, which had opted for increased demand, had to reduce their opening hours when cases resumed their rise and many cities and states imposed new travel restrictions and halted activities such as domestic food.
However, the US economy has been growing as more vaccines have been distributed. Airlines believe the increase in demand they have seen in recent weeks is likely to continue as more people are vaccinated, although recently reported cases of coronavirus have increased in some areas and more variants are spreading. infectious. Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still discourages travel, earlier this month he said it was a low-risk activity for people who have been completely vaccinated.
Other airlines have also said they are seeing an increase in more complete flights and a growing number of future bookings and have been rapidly filling their route networks over the summer. Discounter Allegiant Travel Co. said last week that its average daily bookings in March were higher than in March 2019. Frontier Airlines, another low-cost carrier, announced eight new routes on Tuesday and plans to add service to Alaska.