Delta Air Lines Confident in Summer Travel Boom, Debunks Analysts’ Concerns
Photo Credit: Delta executives say they have no concerns about summer travel demand. (risingthermals/Flickr) Flickr / risingthermals
Skift Take
Any data showing a slowdown in travel bookings is just noise, as Delta executives see it. They say demand is strong, and have the numbers to back them up.
All that talk of slowing air travel demand and a potentially weak summer? Throw it out the window, Delta Air Lines executives said Thursday.
"[We] know there's a lot of anxiety about domestic demand for the summer, but we don't share that anxiety," Glen Hauenstein, president of the Atlanta-based carrier, said during Delta's first-quarter results call.
Wall Street analysts have in recent weeks raised concerns over domestic travel demand citing data showing a slowdown in new bookings. In a report Monday, Bank of America analysts highlight a slowdown in net bookings and wrote that Delta may mention "near-term softening" during its then upcoming earnings call.
The data cited by Bank of America and others reflects a change in booking patterns towards a new normal — and not a softening in demand — Hauenstein said. For example, during the pandemic many people bought flights close to their travel date because they were not sure they would take the trip. T
