Boeing is seeking government aid in the form of a $60 billion package. Seth Kaplan, aviation journalist at Kaplan Research, joins "Squawk Box" to discuss.
U.S. airline stocks plunged to new multi-year lows Wednesday as carriers further cut costs after coronavirus devastated demand for flights and they plead for billions in government aid.
Delta Air Lines said Wednesday that it plans to cut its flying by an unprecedented 70%, on a year-over-year basis, after March revenue fell nearly $2 billion short of the same month last year as the coronavirus devastates demand.
The carrier is also halting capital spending, including for new aircraft, and parking “at least” half of its fleet.
April’s revenue drop could be even worse, Delta warned. The reduced flying will last “until demand starts to recover,” CEO Ed Bastian told employees.
“Our international operation will take the largest reduction, with over 80% of flying reduced over the next two to three months,” he said.
The airline industry has been among the hardest-hit industries amid the rapid spread of COVID-19, as travelers stay home and scrap vacations and lucrative business travel.
United, American, JetBlue, Southwest and others are, like Delta, slashing their flying, asking employees to take unpaid leave, freezing hiring and parking hundreds of planes, a trend that is weighing heavily on aircraft makers like Boeing and Airbus. American, for example, on Tuesday night said it is offering workers up to 12 months of unpaid leave. Employees can also leave the company entirely and buy health insurance at the same premiums as staff if they have worked for the airline for 15 years or more,
Despite the severe measures, executives signaled more pain is ahead as bookings drop precipitously.
JetBlue said Wednesday that on an average March day the carrier takes in about $22 million from bookings and fees and this month that’s dropped to an average of less than $4 million a day. At the same time the New York-based airline issues credits of more than $20 million to customers who have cancelled their trips.
“If you do the math, $4 million per day does not come anywhere close to covering our daily expenses,” the airline’s CEO Robin Hayes and COO Joanna Geraghty told crewmembers. “It is hard to predict how long these conditions will last and how much more challenging the environment may become.”
Several airlines Wednesday posted their largest one-day percentage declines on record and fell to new multi-year lows. Among them: American which dropped 25% to end at $11.65, Delta, which fell 26% to close at $23.49, and JetBlue, which lost nearly 20% to $7.660. United fell more than 30%, its second-biggest one-day percentage drop, to close at $21.38.
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