United Airlines is down 9% as the recovery from business and international travel is still a long way off

Shares of United Airlines fell more than 9% on Tuesday morning after the company reported its fifth consecutive quarterly loss and its CEO expressed uncertainty about when two key parts of the business would recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

CEO Scott Kirby said demand for long-haul international and corporate travel has dropped by around 80% compared to 2019 levels, depriving the carrier of high-paying customers it relied on earlier. of the crisis.

“The big question is when do these two things come back and we’re not sure when that is,” Kirby said in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box”. He said both segments would begin to recover during the summer and during the second half of the year.

The airline reported a $ 1.4 billion loss in the first quarter on Monday and said it could reach profitability even if demand for international and long-distance business travel rises to 35% from 2019 levels .

United on Monday announced new flights to countries that have begun opening their borders such as Greece, Iceland and Croatia, and Kirby said the airline had strong reservations for those flights after the sale.

The State Department, however, still recommends travelers to reconsider trips abroad. On Monday, he said it would increase warnings of “not traveling” to 80% of the world’s countries, citing that the Covid-19 pandemic poses an “unprecedented risk to travelers.”

National leisure travel bookings to popular destinations such as beaches have surpassed 2019 levels, Kirby said.

Tourists flying to the United States have led to the recovery of travel as more people are vaccinated, governments relax travel restrictions, and tourist attractions reopen. But companies have yet to put many of their employees back to work, and international travel bans or quarantine requirements continue to keep many travelers closer to home.

“I don’t know how people find hotels,” Kirby said of popular holiday destinations.