by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street
Eight months into crisis, airlines are stuck in worst recovery ever.
US airlines are in the crappiest recovery ever. They’re getting hit in two ways: The number of passengers is still way down, seven months into the pandemic, or actually over eight months into it because for airlines it started at the end of January with flight bans; and on top of it, ticket prices have plunged — the toxic mix of crushed volume and crushed prices. In its third-quarter earnings report on Tuesday, Delta showed how that worked out.
Airlines’ passenger volume still crushed.
The number of passengers entering the security zones of US airports is still down 65% from the same time last year, according to TSA airport screenings.