People run through a crowded JFK International Airport on July 02, 2024 in New York City before the July 4 holiday. As soon as the summer journey closes, millions of American and tourists are experiencing long delays and crowds on airports, train stations and highways. July is the busiest month of travel in America
Spencer Plot | Getty Image News | Getty images
Making money in summer is not as easy as it used to be for airlines.
Airlines prepared their schedule in August for several reasons. , The demand for flights to Europe is also moving beyond Scorching, crowded heat For the fall, airline officials have said, especially for passengers with more flexibility like retired people.
The carriers still make the wholesale of their money in the second and third quarter. But as the demand for travel has moved, and in some cases the customers have become completely unpredictable, leaving the third quarter to the airlines to the shoe-in moneymaker.
Changes in plans, pricier tickets
Airline planners have been forced to achieve more surgical with schedule in August as during the demand for holiday from late spring and summer peaks. Labor and other costs have jumped after the epidemic, so a mixture of flights is required to be correct.
Carriers across the industry are flying from the schedule after overhang of high capacity in this summer. According to the latest US inflation, there has been an increase of 0.7% in July from last year to July in July, but the capacity has been cut to carry forward the capacity cuts.
According to Aviation Data firm Syrium, US Airlines has a domestic capacity of 6% less than July to July. In the same period last year, he cut more than 4% domestic capacity compared to only 0.6% of the months in 2023, Syrium said. From July to August in 2019, Airlines cut 1.7% capacity.
The carriers who bet on a blockbuster year were first disappointed in 2025 when consumers weighed the President. Donald TrumpAgain, again, again tariff and economic uncertainty. To attract more customers, many airlines reduced prices, even for flying in summer peaks in late June and late July.
Demand has improved, airline officials said on income calls in recent months, but including carriers DeltaAmerican, United And Southwest Last month reduced its 2025 Profit forecast Compared to his Sunnier Outlooks in the beginning of the year.
In further complex cases, some passengers are also waiting for the last minute to book flights.
“It was really, I would say, in mid -May, when we started looking at Memorial Day Booking,” Jetbu Airways President Marti St. George told investors last month. “We had a magnificent Memorial Day, which was much better than the forecast, and it was actually done in June. But it is the feeling of the people, just waiting for a long time to make a final decision.”
Always happens next year
Now, some airlines are already wondering how to deal with the changing journey pattern sometimes next year.
“Schools are going back first and first, but whatever you see is coming out before and before,” Bryan Znotins, American Airlines‘Vice President of Network Planning and Schedule, told CNBC.
Dallas and Fort Worth, Public Schools in Texas, returned on 5 August, and Atlanta Public Schools resumed on 4 August. In 2023, more than half of the country’s public school students went back to classes by mid -August, according to the Pew Research Center.
South -West, with its Texas roots, ended its summer schedule on 5 August this year, compared to August 15 in 2023. The American, for its share, is flying a few peaks next year.
“We are changing our entire summer program in the first week before Memorial Day,” Znotins said. “This is only in response to schools going out in spring.” Those schemes include a host joints of long-hall international flights.
“We are one year round airline,” he continued. Znotins said the carrier does not have to ensure that there are enough seats for peak periods, but know when to cut light quarters, like the first three months of the year.
“For a network planner, the difficult programs to manufacture are those where there is less demand because you cannot just rely on the demand coming in your flights,” Znotins said. “When the demand is low, you need to find ways to attract customers for your flights with a good quality program and product change.”
American said that its schedule by seats in August was on par in July 2019, but this year it was 6% less in July to August.
The US forecast last month may lose an adjusted 10 cents to 60 cents in the third quarter, expecting analysts below. CEO Robert Isom said on an earning call that “July had been difficult,” however the carrier says the trends have improved.
Capacity cuts, recently with more encouraging booking patterns, are promoting optimism about better supply and demand balance in the coming weeks.
“It’s the fault of some airlines, you try to create a church for Easter Sunday: you build the foundation of your ability for those peak periods and then you have lots [employees]”Raymond James airline analyst Savantathi Sith said.
He said that before the peak period ended, it was uncommon to see the airlines to complete their summer programs throughout the board, but he is excited about the demand, and fare, moving forward.
“Time has passed and people are gaining a little more certainty on what their future looks like and they are ready to spend,” he said.
