airlines

The U.S. airline industry has generally faced two obstacles in enticing more people to fly: fear and fares. Before the novel coronavirus, few feared flying thanks to the extreme rarity of airline crashes in the U.S., and domestic inflation-adjusted fares that were about the lowest ever. As a result, a record 811 million people flew within the U.S. in 2019. Today, fares are at rock bottom, but Americans’ fear of flying may be the highest it’s ever been, as the risk of sitting in an enclosed space with several hundred strangers – seemingly the perfect conditions for an infectious disease – is making most people avoid the skies. Passenger traffic plummeted 95% in April from a year earlier and remains significantly lower than normal. As an aviation historian, I feel a bit of deja vu. Almost...

NAACP officials said Monday they are pleased that American Airlines is addressing concerns the civil rights organization raised about the airline’s treatment of African-American passengers, but it’s not ready to drop the travel advisory it issued in October. American announced last week, that it would take several steps to address concerns raised by the NAACP and other activists, including conducting a review of its hiring, training and career development policies to determine if improvements can be made. In January, executives said, American will offer additional anti-discrimination and implicit bias training to all its employees. In addition, American will overhaul how it handles customer complaints of discrimination, with the goal of responding to concerns within 48-hours of a compla...

Tag: airlines

Airlines got travelers comfortable about flying again once before – but 9/11 and a virus are a lot different

NAACP says American Airlines has made progress, but travel advisory remains