The covid pandemic dealt the airline industry a number of blows that it has struggled to come back from. Since the virus slashed the demand for air travel for over a year, airlines had to do what they could to save money.
In many cases, that meant two things — figuring out how to employ fewer people and not buying new airplanes. Each airline approached the staffing issue differently. Southwest Airlines (LUV) – Get Free Report, for example, offered early retirement while United Airlines (UAL) – Get Free Report laid off some employees.
In addition, all the airlines had the normal staff attrition that happens each year but did not make the usual efforts to replace those people. That led to a shortage of pilots which has placed a constraint on the ability of Southwest, United, and many other airlines to fly their full schedules.
Those problems. however, will be resolved (in most cases) by the end of the year when a new issue will constrain the airlines — a lack of airplanes. Both Boeing (BA) – Get Free Report and Airbus (EADSY) – Get Free Report have had trouble keeping up with demand. Both companies are delivering at least 20 fewer planes each month than planned, McKinsey Partner Vik Krishnan told Travel Weekly.
