JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes told CNBC on Tuesday that he was optimistic that the deployment of coronavirus vaccines would help start the demand for air travel around the world, based on his experience with his own family.
“Just before I got to this show, I just called my mom in the UK. Today I just got the vaccine against Covid,” Hayes told Closing Bell. “She is already planning her trip to come see me and her grandchildren in 2021. There are hundreds of millions of people like her around the world,” he added, calling the Covid-19 vaccine a “game changer. for everyone “.
The airline industry has been one of the hardest hit during the pandemic, which sparked duels for health and economic crises. Although air travel has improved since the low era of the coronavirus era in the spring, traffic levels remain significantly below 2019 levels. On Monday, for example, 752,451 people went through security checks. of TSA, compared to 2,250,386 on the same day last week, according to U.S. government data.
However, the start of vaccinations against Covid-19 have given hope for a more complete economic recovery in 2021, especially in besieged sectors such as travel and hospitality. Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine administration began in the UK last week and in America this week.
Supplies are limited at first, but manufacturing capacity is expected to increase considerably next year, allowing more people to be vaccinated. Dr. Moncef Slaoui, who leads the Trump administration’s vaccination efforts, has said all Americans could be vaccinated against Covid-19 before June.
Specifically, for JetBlue, Hayes said he was confident in the company’s decision to start offering transatlantic flights to London in the coming months.
“We really think starting flights to London next summer will be really perfectly timed,” Hayes said. “There may be fewer business travelers than normal, but I think the price point we will make will be that our new Mint or premium experience will be very affordable for many leisure travelers as well.”
“We see that our leisure business has largely recovered by the end of next year. We believe that business travel will take a little longer, but that is only 15% to 20% of what we want.” , he said. “And we’ve been able to reuse a lot of that capacity in new entertainment markets.”
While Hayes expects flight demand to improve throughout 2021, the New York Airline continues to take steps to control costs. CNBC reported last week that reduced salaries for senior executives will be maintained until next year and that merit rises will be stopped for most employees.