Tourists bathe on a beach in Cancun, October 13, 2015. — Reuters pic
Tourists bathe on a beach in Cancun, October 13, 2015. — Reuters pic

CHICAGO, Nov 24 — US airlines are adding flights, and in some cases Covid-19 testing programmes, for travel to Mexico and the Caribbean, a region central to carriers’ strategies to tap into pockets of holiday demand before a vaccine makes its way around the world.

Beachside resort destinations in areas like Cancun are the only spots that now have more flights from US cities scheduled for November and December than last year, numbers from aviation data firm Cirium show.

Overall, US airlines are flying about 50 per cent less than 2019, with flights to traditional European vacation hotspots like Paris down by as much as 82 per cent due to travel bans and quarantines.

While new revenue streams from destinations like the Caribbean will help, they won’t be enough to put airlines in the black for the year, analysts have said.

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The holiday period is traditionally when airlines thrive ahead of slow months in January and February. But this year they have said they will continue to burn millions of dollars daily through the fourth quarter as they wrestle with slashed demand.

Ahead of Thanksgiving, US airports saw their busiest weekend since mid-March, even after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urged Americans not to travel amid a spike in Covid-19 cases. Still, demand is down by around 60 per cent and airlines say it’s too soon to know how Christmas travel will play out.

Still, airlines are hoping to build up a base of customers who feel comfortable about flying before a Covid-19 vaccine becomes widely available, eyeing the typically lucrative summer travel season.

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More studies, including from the Harvard School of Public Health and the US Department of Defense, have said the risk of Covid-19 transmission in flight is low if people wear masks.

Recent positive vaccine developments have helped reassure investors that US airlines can make it through the crisis. Sector shares rose four per cent yesterday and are up 23 per cent for the month.

But the speed and depth of their recovery, particularly from higher-margin business and international travel, will determine how they cut piles of debt they took on to weather the crisis.

Airlines are trying to reboot overseas travel through bilateral bubbles — deals between countries on Covid-19 testing protocols that would replace or reduce quarantines — though programmes have been slow to take off.

United Airlines last week launched a free rapid Covid-19 testing programme between Newark Liberty International and London Heathrow airports, and yesterday said it was rolling out a test program for flights from US energy capital Houston, Texas to 10 places in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Starting December 7, passengers can take the self-collected, mail-in test 72 hours before departure for US$119 (RM486) to meet entry requirements at their destination. — Reuters