The heads of two major U.S. airlines have said recent aviation disasters and the public’s subsequent fear of flying is driving down ticket sales.
Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said incidents in Washington, D.C., and Toronto had “caused a lot of shock among consumers,” which has affected the company’s revenue.
Speaking at an investors conference on Monday, Bastian did not specify how much sales had slowed, but according to regulatory filings, Delta has revised its expected revenue growth for the quarter down by half.
67 people died after an American Airlines flight on approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport collided with a military helicopter in January.
Last month a non-fatal crash in Toronto saw a Delta flight flip upside down upon landing. All 76 passengers and four crew members traveling from Minneapolis survived.
Bastian told CNN that the crashes were some of the worst aviation incidents in the past 25 years. As a result, “there’s a whole generation of people traveling these days who didn’t realize these things can happen,” he said.
In addition, consumer confidence has faltered due to wider concerns about the economy and the overall cost of living. “We saw a pretty immediate stall in both corporate travel and bookings,” he said. “Consumer confidence and certainty in air travel started to wane a little bit as questions of safety came in.”
American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said that the DC crash had also affected his airline’s revenue forecast for the quarter, adding that its focus was currently to care for the victims' families.
Isom also echoed the comments of Bastian and United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, about the impact of general economic uncertainty, describing it as “a big deal.”
The causes of the two crashes have not yet been determined and investigations by the National Transportation Safety Board are ongoing.
