Whats Happening With The Airlines

On each normal day in the United States, there is almost always at least one airplane above each person’s head. There are 76,329 flights that cross the United States on any given day (watch this video to see them in action). During these uncertain times though, that is not the case. 

In the New York City region, including airports such as Newark (EWR), LaGuardia (LGA), and Kennedy (JFK), about 140,912,160 passengers were processed through the three airports in January of 2020. Those numbers are significantly lower and the three airports are operating at about 5% of their normal capacity now in the midst of a pandemic.

In the beginning of April, a frequent flyer by the name of Jim Mack flew into a silent LaGuardia. He usually is greeted with crowded hallways, loud noises and lots of people. One of the largest airlines in the United States, United Airlines flew about 460 flights a day from LGA and EWR at the same time last year, and now is only flying a combined 17 flights a day during this pandemic. Since New York City is the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, a very little amount of people are flying in and out of NY.  Additional people feel worried about being in the closed plane cabin for long periods of time.

Since travel rates have been lower than ever, United Airlines has transitioned to carrying cargo on their aircraft instead of passengers. United and other big name airlines are transporting vital medical supplies, such as personal protective equipment (PPE). United Airlines currently has 6 cargo routes departing Tokyo each day, compared to only 1 passenger flight a day. 

Recently, Congress passed a $60 million bill to assist airlines with this crisis. The bill will allow airlines to continue to pay their workers while they can’t be working. One of the conditions of the bill is that after it is paid off, the airlines are not allowed to buy back their own stock. What this means is that airlines can’t buy their own stock in the interest of keeping their stock at a high level. This bill has made many airplane enthusiasts angry, as the airlines buy back millions of dollars worth of their stock, but now have to go to the government for money because they don’t have a safety net for crises like this.

Over all we can see that there has been a drastic impact on the airline system and economy.