Airlines scramble as Delta variant produced travel hesitancy

Miami, Florida – Just before the Delta variant, the air travel seemed to be back.

“As Delta picked up demand has wained a little bit for domestic and international travel,” said Willis Orlando, with Scott’s Cheap Flights.

According to the Transportation Security Administration, they saw a drop of about a million passengers over the Labor Day holiday weekend compared to this year’s July 4th holiday weekend. Their data showed a decrease of 9.5 percent compared to 2019.

“The airlines are scrambling to figure out what the heck to do about this,” said Orlando.

In order to accommodate the early demand for flights as travelers booked trips, especially to warm weather locations, airlines expanded their service. Now they don’t want to take planes and crew out of service again.

“For the consumer things are very good, for the airlines they are less good. The airlines thought they would be recovering and be in a much better position than they are,” said Orlando.

According to a poll conducted by Scott’s Cheap Flights, the Delta variant has produced travel hesitancy.

According to Scott’s Cheap Flight poll, 74 percent said that the Delta variant had impacted their travel plans, with 35 percent not booking any new trips right now and 24 percent choosing to book only domestic travel.

This could be a boon to those still wanting to fly, Orlando said.

“A lot of great deals down the line. As airlines are trying to figure out what to do, with the Delta virus it is hard to tell,” he said.

According to Orlando, some very good deals are already popping up like a round trip flight from Miami to Rome for only $365.

Airports in the tri-county area are likely to see a drop off of over two and a half percent in the fourth quarter.

Due to Delta variant concerns, more than 20 percent of surveyed Americans who initially planned to fly for the Labor Day weekend canceled their flights.