According to the CEO of the world’s second largest airline, Delta, a kind of vaccine passport is required for overseas flights, but not for US domestic flights.
Ed Bastian says in an interview on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt: “I do not see it happening in the US, but I think internationally it will probably be a requirement.”
Bastian also tells Holt that Delta will block middle seats until the end of April and that the company ‘is not ready to make a decision to sell them again. But he explained: “We are going to sell it as soon as people still have confidence in travel, we have no choice but to sell and give them the opportunity to sit in the middle seat.”
A type of vaccine passport for overseas flights is required, but not for U.S. domestic flights, Ed Bastian told NBC Nightly News.
Bastian tells Nester’s Lester Holt that Delta will block middle seats until the end of April and that the company’s not ready to make a decision to sell them again
On the future of mask mandates, Bastian says: ‘Once the virus is in an enclosed form, you will probably still see some customers wearing masks.
‘But I hope once we as a society are confident that we have overcome the virus, that we will be able to return to life as we knew it, and that this includes being able to fly safely on planes without wearing masks dra. ‘
Regarding customers who feel nervous about flying again, Bastian tells Holt that airlines offer the safest mode of transportation.
He says: ‘There is no safer form of transport than in our planes with us [hospital-grade] Hepa filtration systems, mask maintenance, middle seats are blocked, space on board.
I hope once we as a society are confident that we have overcome this virus, that we will be able to come back to life as we knew it, and that it is safe to be able to fly airplanes without wearing masks.
“Our team is doing a great job. We are proud of the work they have done, and the trust is being restored, but I appreciate the anxiety, and you see it even in warriors, because they are returning to the airports and in the air for the first time. ‘
On the future of business travel, he says it will return, but the recovery will lag behind by a year or two than that of leisure travel.
He continues: ‘As we move forward, we do not currently see many business trips. We are lower … probably still about 80 percent, but if we come in the fall in late summer, and increase again like vaccinations as our country begins to reach herd immunity, businesses will come again early in the summer.
Ed Bastian tells NBC Nightly News: ‘As we move forward, we are not currently seeing much business travel. We’re down … probably still about 80 percent ‘
‘I hear from all our businesses – large companies that they are ready to go see their customers and meet each other and see their teams. So it’s going to come back. It may just be another year or two behind the leisure trip. ‘
Across the United States, air travel is recovering faster from the depths of the pandemic, with longer airport security lines and heavier traffic on airline sites.
The Transportation Safety Administration selected more than 1.3 million people on Friday and Sunday, setting a new high since the coronavirus outbreak destroyed a year ago.
Airlines say they believe the numbers are on the way, and more people are fleeing for spring and summer.
“Our last three weeks have been the best three weeks since the pandemic, and each week has been better than the previous week,” American Airlines CEO Doug Parker said Monday.
Airline shares rose across the board and the four largest U.S. airline shares hit the highest prices in more than a year.
Although the number of people driving through airport checkpoints has risen one million for four consecutive days and the seven-day moving average is the highest in the pandemic era, passenger traffic in March is still more than 50 percent lower than in the same period in 2019.
The interview with Ed Bastian will be broadcast tonight on NBC Nightly News at 18:30 ET / 17:30 CT.