There was an interesting comment from Southwest Airlines in today's earnings release:
"Thus far in Jan 2023, the Company has experienced an increase in flight cancellations and a deceleration in bookings, primarily for Jan and Feb 2023 travel," the company said.
That might be sending a skewed picture because it was Southwest who was a nightmare for travelers in December and consumers might not want to fly with the carrier again in winter. Officials acknowledged as much, in relations to the Jan/Feb softness.
CEO Bob Jordan also said this:
"We are encouraged by current booking trends in March 2023."
American Airlines also reported earnings today and the CEO said that "post holiday bookings are off to a strong start" adding that it was the best-ever post-holiday period, with broad strength across all entities and travel periods. He said demand for domestic and short-haul international was leading the way.
He added that he expects strong demand to continue in 2023 with more improvements in international flights.
US air traffic is about 40% above last year's late-January seasonal low, and *just* above 2019's level (we'll see if that holds over the coming few days). pic.twitter.com/BwSVhGUqye
— Nick Reece (@nicholastreece) January 25, 2023
