Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said he and his peers are optimistic that air travel will return sooner than later, adding that passengers are "ready to reclaim that lost period," referring to the past year of the coronavirus pandemic.
Bastian made his remarks in an interview with NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt.
Buoyed by the Transportation Security Administration's screening of four million passengers this past weekend, the most since air travel fell off the radar a year ago, airline executives are excited that the prospect of pent-up demand and the three vaccines for COVID-19 will speed the return to full strength.
"As the case counts are coming down in meaningful levels as the vaccinations are starting to grow, people are ready to reclaim their lives," Bastian told Holt during the interview. "We're seeing bookings pick up. People are anticipating what their spring and summer plans are going to look like and they're ready to reclaim that lost period that they've had."
That said, Bastian is also acutely aware that the bulk of that travel is in the leisure sector. Business travel, where most of the airline profit margin is made, remains reduced by about 80 percent, Bastian said, dampening a full recovery for the industry for the moment.
Overall passenger travel remains down by more than half in March compared to the same period in 2019, a year of record traffic and profitability for the airlines.
Airlines have been able to survive via three different government bailouts over the last year totaling close to $50 billion.
"We certainly are seeing the beginning of what feels like a very large uptick," American Airlines CEO Doug Parker said at a JPMorgan virtual event on Monday.
Bastian said he believes travelers now see that the risk of flying has been mitigated.
"We have very few documented cases around the world, much less in the U.S., of transmission aboard an aircraft," Bastian said. "The filtration systems aboard our aircraft are the safest air you can breathe, anywhere. We all have HEPA filters and we ensure that our planes are pristine."
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