Major Fleet Shifts & Small Capacity Crunch On The Horizon
If the economic recovery continues – even at a slower pace – air traffic volume will follow strongly.
But the air transportation system won’t be the same.
As part of the update of the Boyd Group International Global Fleet Trend & Forecast, as well as the update to Airports:USA® it is becoming clear that in the USA, the CCP-Covid pandemic will result in a different fleet mixes at network airlines, which will support different route strategies.
First, it is likely that the post-CARES route and market shifts may result in AA/DL/UA revising their hub feed systems. It is likely that, based on whole new strategies and smaller fleets, they each will quit-claim a number of secondary hub-feed markets.
The fleet data indicate that the U.S. airline industry will be somewhere on either side of 300 excess airliners. Within this, there are open questions on the current fleets of airliners with 100 seats and less.
We’re covering this in more detail in this week’s Aviation Unscripted video… it sets out the importance of understanding airline fleet strategies as the basis for future air service access planning.
Aviation and air service planning will be based on whole new metrics… past traffic data is now a lot less reliable, because the airline industry that created them has changed fundamentally.
Click here to go to Aviation Unscripted. The latest video is there, along with earlier insights. Feel free to browse.