Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian expects 2021 to be “the year of recovery” after the coronavirus pandemic cut operating revenue by 64% and prompted its first annual loss in 11 years.
“We don’t anticipate that by the summer travel will be back anywhere close to where it previously was, but it will be a meaningful improvement, sufficient to be able to drive profitability for us in the back half of the year,” Bastian told Reuters.
The strength of the recovery will hinge on factors such as the pace of vaccine rollouts and people’s appetite for flying after a year that nearly brought global travel to a halt.
In the first quarter, the Atlanta-based airline expects revenue to fall by 60% to 65% from a year ago and its scheduled flight capacity to shrink by 35%.
