Airline and travel companies have taken a major economic hit in the last few months due to travel restrictions and the Coronavirus. Making travel plans is typically very simple especially with sites like Tripadvisor and Google flights. However, the Coronavirus is keeping everyone at home and off planes. 

Some travel companies that have been affected in a negative way are airlines, vacation home rental companies like AirBnb and hotels. 

Brooke Esposito, a surfer from Sag Harbor says, “I was supposed to fly down to our house in Florida with my family for April break however we had to cancel our trip. The airlines gave us credit for another trip that expires in six months.” Not only did her trip get cancelled but she also rents out her house when her family is not going there. “We typically have a couple that rents out the Florida house for the entire month of May. However, this year they were unable to do so.” 

Airlines such as JetBlue, American, and Delta have had to cut the amount of flights down. For example if there are typically five flights a day going to California, now they have had to cut their flights to five a week. This drastic measure is to make up for how little people are traveling due to the restrictions and travel bans. In total, the average number of commercial flights per day fell from more than 100,000 in January and February this year to around 78,500 in March and 29,400 in April. 

After the pandemic and travel bans lift, an increase in flight prices is expected because airlines are barely able to stay in business as it is. However some airlines and travel companies are offering customers deals for post-pandemic travels. Some of these deals consist of free night stays at hotels and deals on red eye/overnight flights. 

Hopefully airlines will be able to recover and come back stronger. I know I am not the only one who misses the excitement of going to a new place.