Airline Industry August 10th

TSA checkpoint

After more than a month of stagnation with passenger numbers, TSA checkpoint traffic has finally passed another milestone–more than 800k passengers traveled Sunday August 9th. While daily traffic numbers haven’t been this high since March, it is still only 31% of what passenger throughput was a year ago. Average daily throughput increased by a sizable amount this week as well–52,635 passengers per day vs last week’s 13,000 passengers per day. With this jump in passengers travelling, as well as talks of Cares Act 2.0, airline stocks jumped up significantly this Monday–see more in the DELTA section.

fAA Report

FAA traffic numbers have come in for the month of June. The month of June saw a steady increase in flights to and from Atlanta. May reported a high of 673 daily flights, while June nearly reached 40% of pre-corona numbers at 955 daily flights. June of last year averaged 2,609 daily flights. Expect to see a decline for the month of July, if TSA checkpoint numbers are anything to go by. The ratio will not be 1-to-1 however, as airlines will likely change their schedules to match the needs of their customers.

Delta Airlines

Delta stock jumped up nearly 8% August 9th at $29.34. United and American also climbed at a similar rate. These are happening due to two reasons. Last week TSA passenger throughput increased significantly after more than 5 weeks of stagnation. Additionally, talks about a second airline bailout are happening as Sept. 30+ looms closer. If a bailout were to happen it would give these struggling firms more liquidity to play around with, but may come with more costly stipulations than the first bailout. 

In The News

Airline Shares Surge as TSA numbers hit Pandemic High, Support for second bailout builds

Leslie Josephs

United Airlines shares added more than 9% to $37.54, Delta Air Lines closed nearly 8% higher at $29.34, while American Airlines ended the day at $14, more than 7% higher. Southwest Airlines rose more than 5% to $34.99. The S&P 500 rose 0.3%.

Some analysts are concerned about what happens to demand as the summer travel rush fades.

“As such, we remain cautious on the pace of recovery from here as we head into more off-peak leisure travel periods this fall,” wrote Bank of America analyst Andrew Didora in a note published Monday.

Airlines’ financial losses are mounting and executives have warned more than 70,000 employees that their jobs are at risk when the terms of federal aid, which prohibit job cuts, expire in October.

Delta to screen flyers’ temperatures as part of test at Los Angeles

Ben Mutzabaugh

Delta passengers, be prepared for the airline to check your temperature if you’re flying out of Los Angeles (LAX) during the next few weeks.The carrier will begin conducting temperature checks on Tuesday (Aug. 11) as part of a three-week pilot program. Delta’s test expands a temperature-screening pilot that the airport itself began testing at its Tom Bradley International Terminal in late June.

“As a part of our ongoing efforts to reduce the COVID-19 infection rate and provide additional layers of protection for our customers and employees, we are testing a temperature screening process for customers flying out of LAX Terminal 2,” Delta Air Lines said in a statement to TPG on Monday. “Customers who have a temperature of 100.4 or higher will not be allowed to board consistent with the CDC’s fever threshold.”

Photo of an undetermined Georgia Tech home game during the 1918 college football season. That's when the sport was hit by the Spanish flu and the end of World War I.

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