3/29/20 Update:
About one week ago, we saw that over 50 airlines had canceled 100% of their flights. Well, now, according to the Coronavirus Flight Cancelation Tracker spreadsheet found below, in just six days time there are now just under 100 airlines that have canceled all of their flights for the time being.
Some of the domestic carriers are starting to ramp up at their cancellations. For example, American Airlines had capacity down around 60% for the month of April it is now planning on that figure being around 80% for the month of May. Delta is also ramping up its cancellations.
If you are wondering about the major US airlines, here are some approximations of the percentage of flights that they have decided to cut (these numbers are subject to change).
- American: 80%
- Delta: 70%
- United: 68%
- JetBlue: 55%
- Southwest: 40%
While numbers like these are startling, the nearly $60 billion in bail out funds should help the airlines weather these storms.
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3/23/20 Original post:
It’s been almost impossible to keep track of all of the airlines that have been canceling flights over the past few weeks.
Just when we think things have hit an all time low, things get much worse for the airlines. We’ve seen airlines like Southwest cancel all international flights and other airlines like United slash their international flights by 95%. Things truly are getting crazy.
But these cancellations are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of reduced air traffic.
In fact, over 50 airlines have canceled 100% of their flights.
These cancellation rates are unprecedented and a reflection of just how crazy the times are that we are living in. Many of these airlines are smaller but there are still some well-known airlines like Brussels Airlines who have currently grounded all of their fleet.
There are even more airlines who have canceled 90% or more of their flights.
For example Ryanair and SAS have both canceled 99% of their flights as of now. Lufthansa has canceled 98% of their flights and Singapore Airlines has canceled 96%.
There are several more major airlines that have canceled 90% or more of their flights as well.
For those that are keeping only a small percentage of flights operating, those flights are often reserved for specific purposes such as repatriating citizens back to their home country.
The deadlines for these cancellation periods are all different for the airlines. Some of the deadlines are set to expire sometime in March or April while others have been extended through May or even June. Personally, I think the suspensions ending in March are too premature and that they will be extended at least until April.
These cancellation rates show just how dire the need will be for some of these airlines to avoid bankruptcy. We should know more about the stimulus package coming forth in the US in the next couple of days although like anything coming from Congress, it seems they are currently dragging things on.
I think the ultimate blow to US airlines will be if a domestic travel ban is enforced. We’ve heard talk about the US considering this and we have seen domestic air travel halted in certain countries like India, so it could happen if things start to get out of control.
If you want to keep track of the cancellation rates for different airlines and their deadlines you can check out this handy spreadsheet that I believe is being updated in real-time.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNBC. Read my bio.
