Travel Deals Explode as Coronavirus Lessens Demand for Flights

Big planes will be seen more often in America’s skies as international flight restrictions would otherwise leave aircraft benched. 

Several Months of Newer and Bigger Airliners 

Shorter flights across major American cities will be seeing some swaps this spring, at least until early May. Flights like Boston-Miami, Chicago-Las Vegas, and the likes will be getting some upgrades for a short period of time by swapping the currently used smaller aircraft like Boeing 737 or Airbus A321 for bigger and newer planes. 

American Airlines, Delta, and United will be looking to utilize their Boeing 777s, Airbus A330-300s, and, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. But why the change? The most straightforward answer is because of the coronavirus. The outbreak of COVID-19 has cut flights between the US, China, and Hong Kong, and severely limited or canceled many to South Korean cities, Italy and other “high-danger” zones. 

As the coronavirus outbreak continues to affecting flight demand and forcing countries to impose travel restrictions, airline companies have no choice but to use their bigger aircraft as “effectively as possible,” senior aviation analyst with OAG John Grant says, because otherwise, they would just be a “cost burden to the airline.” 

This will definitely be a big increase in the use of widebody jets, Grant added, with statistics pointing to a 54% increase in comparison to last year’s 1,732 domestic flights with widebody jets, with April’s forecast being 2,672 domestic flights with widebody jets. 

Grant also commented on how airlines choose where to use the bigger planes – it’s actually very simple – flights between major hubs, which attract more passengers, both local and connecting. Others like Delta will be using widebodies on popular vacation routes like Atlanta-Phoenix. 

But, there are a whole lot of positives for both the premium and regular traveler – upgraded entertainment and more comfortable seats, including the option to get yourself a fancy suite in some aircraft if you pay the price. Frequent flyers might also get themselves free upgrades to their seats, and the chances get better the bigger the plane gets.