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Two major U.S. airlines are entering the new year to boost travel demand by offering cheap sales to customers willing to take the air to a blue spot in 2020 – a year that has ruined the airline industry.
Southwest Airlines on Monday launched a sale on one-way fares to boost demand for spring travel amid concerns that coronavirus revival will hamper travel in the first quarter.
The carrier offers tickets from $ 29 per single trip. The sale ends Thursday, January 7 and is booked for travel only for March and April.
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Meanwhile, Southwest’s cheap competitor, JetBlue, has announced that it has launched a winter sale offering one-way tickets starting at $ 49.
The airline in New York is offering its sales until January 12 and has only listed flights departing from John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, Westchester County Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport. Customers booking flights between January 16 and June 17 can book a one-time trip to many destinations on the East Coast for less than $ 100.
Some of JetBlue’s cheapest domestic flights depart from JFK to Dallas; Buffalo, NY; Burlington, Vt .; Rochester, NY; and Syracuse, NY, for as low as $ 49. Other domestic or international flights are usually offered for less than $ 200, including vacation hotspots such as Las Vegas, Palm Springs, California and Aruba.
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The sales come on the heels of a travel push during the holiday season. Passengers move in record numbers through airports before Thanksgiving and between Christmas and New Year – even while federal health officials have called for Americans to stay home to stop the spread of the virus.
Now that the holidays are over, leisure travelers have even fewer reasons to fly, and airline executives have warned that travel is likely to remain depressed by early 2021.
Bill Tierney, deputy president of marketing at Southwest Airlines, told FOX Business that demand for leisure travel remains ‘fragile’ and is likely to remain so for much of 2021.
“We expect the travel industry to look to a long recovery, but we are hopeful because we have seen some growth as we adapt to the needs and expectations of customers,” Tierney said.
In a New Year’s Day memorandum, Delta CEO Ed Bastian also told employees that he expects 2021 to start as depressingly as last year.
“It is likely that we will experience two different phases over the next twelve months,” Bastian said. ‘The first will look a lot like 2020, with travel demand deep and our focus on ensuring the health and safety of our people and customers. . ”
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Since March, the journey has been fueled by various travel restrictions to stop the spread of the virus. As a result, the airline industry continues to incur billions of dollars in losses.
Although passenger numbers are expected to rise to 60% from ‘the depressed 2020 base’ in 2021 in 2021, the International Air Transport Association is expected to drop by almost 30% compared to pre-pandemic levels.
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The industry trading group has estimated that full recovery to 2019 levels is not expected until 2023.
However, Airlines for America, the trade organization that represents the leading American airlines, told FOX Business that it plans an improvement of 14 to 63% in US passenger traffic from 2020 to 2021.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.