As the summer peak season approaches, U.S. airlines are facing unexpected revenue deterioration. Since the beginning of this year, incidents have continued, and concerns about an economic downturn are growing, causing consumers to hesitate about traveling.
On the 21st (local time), CNN reported that "summer is usually the peak season for airlines, but this year could be different," adding, "Issues with air traffic control have led to delays and cancellations of flights, which are further heightening travelers' safety concerns sparked by the worst U.S. airline crash in decades that occurred last January."
William McGee, a senior researcher for aviation and travel at the U.S. think tank Economic Liberty Project (EALP), noted that "a perfect storm of multiple factors affecting airlines has hit all at once," predicting that "the summer season, when airlines make the most revenue, will be even more challenging."
The dark cloud hanging over the aviation industry began with the airplane crash that occurred in Washington last January. On January 29, a passenger plane collided with a military helicopter near Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington, D.C., leading to a crash that resulted in 67 fatalities. This incident has been recorded as the worst civil aviation accident in the U.S. since the Colgan Air crash that killed 50 people in 2009.
Subsequent aviation accidents also followed. Two days after the Reagan Airport incident, a medical transport aircraft with six people on board crashed in downtown Philadelphia, resulting in a total of seven deaths, including all onboard. In February, a small plane carrying 10 people went missing in Alaska and was later found in broken wreckage. In March, there was a small plane crash near Lancaster Airport in Pennsylvania.
Earlier, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said at an investor conference in March that "(the aviation accidents) delivered a significant shock to consumers," and noted, "There has been immediate stagnation in both corporate travel and bookings, and as safety concerns were raised, consumer trust and confidence in air travel began to gradually weaken."
Recently, a control system failure at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey negatively impacted the aviation industry. The Philadelphia control center, which oversees departures at Newark Airport, experienced communication failures for two consecutive weeks starting from the end of last month, causing chaos in flight operations in the area. CNN reported that as air traffic controllers monitoring flights temporarily lost their communication ability with radar and aircraft, concerns about aviation safety have grown.
With the tariff war and economic downturn concerns growing, the future outlook is also not bright. The decline in the value of the dollar has increased overseas travel expenses for Americans. According to an April survey by the Conference Board, the percentage of Americans planning to fly in the next six months has decreased by 12.5% compared to January. Notably, from June to August, bookings to Europe through third-party channels (online travel sites, etc.) have dropped by 9.8% compared to the previous year, severely impacting international travel, a major revenue source for the three largest U.S. airlines.
Ultimately, U.S. airlines have begun to cut expenses. Earlier, the Associated Press reported that United Airlines, one of the three largest U.S. airlines, plans to reduce domestic regular flights by 4% starting in July in response to weak passenger demand. Delta Air Lines announced earlier this month that it would retract its performance outlook for 2025 and postpone the expansion of its flight schedule.
CNN noted that "airlines have endured more serious situations in the past. During the pandemic, flight operations nearly stopped, and after the 9/11 attacks, many went bankrupt or merged," adding that "this summer peak season, which airlines were looking forward to, is likely to be another time of financial turbulence."