Despite turmoil from the omicron variant, the COVID-19 pandemic is over for the aviation industry. No, international and business travel haven’t yet reached 2019 levels. However, as someone who spends a lot of time in airports around the country, I can tell you that business is booming.
In the airlines, passenger demand far out-strips seat supply. As long as companies are charging fares high enough to make money, they are, in fact, profitable. It will take time for some companies to pay off the massive loans they took out to survive the pandemic, but in a few years this pandemic will be remembered as nothing more than a few moments of light chop.
In short, the airlines got off easy.
