andyrebell

He says he wants to reopen the country in a few weeks or even the end of the month? Does that reopening just mean within the USA or open the USA borders for tourism.

civilservant

It's Trump. He could lift it next week.

Doesn't mean the airlines will be quick to add services.

Any answer to your question is pure speculation.

Rete

I didn't realize that the travel across states in the US was closed to air traffic? How did I miss this news?

SultanOfSwing

I'm pretty sure domestic flights are still open, with international flights for repatriation only (if they are even still doing that), but who in the hell wants to get on a plane right now anyway? It's going to be well into 2021 before I feel comfortable being in that kind of close quarters with a bunch of dirty strangers again

scrubbedexpat099

The last figure I saw were that those flying was down to 100,000 a day.

SultanOfSwing

Dirty hallions.

robin1234

BA still have at least one direct flight a day from LHR to Boston, with reasonable prices. Some people must be flying.

SultanOfSwing

Man, you couldn't pay me to walk into an airport right now, let alone get on a plane

robtuck

There is a requirement to run a minimum number of flights within the USA if the airlines dip into the Stimulus packages available. Practically everything else has shitdown, although some airlines are using passenger planes for cargo.

Assuming you could roll out rapid testing, you could potentially add that at the airports and make it a requirement before getting through security or obtaining a boarding pass I guess. Even if opened up it would likely take months to return to any sort of normality though.

lizzyq

WillQ is heading home in the first week of May, when I booked the flight 2 weeks ago United were still listing 6 flights a day from Heathrow to Newark. He might yet end up quarantined in a tent in the garden for 2 weeks, but he doesn't know that yet

SultanOfSwing

I think that's more than reasonable

Giantaxe

I was supposed to be flying within the US this week but cancelled (and got a cash refund after an insane amount of badgering the airline for my rights). I took a look at the first leg of the flights they had rescheduled me on a few hours before its departure time, and there was.... one seat assigned at that point, zero in economy class. This was for a flight from a small state capital, and yes the only reason they're still flying this route once a day is to garner bailout funds.

scrubbedexpat091

Travel within the US isn't closed, just not many willing to fly at the moment.

TSA has been posting comparisons this year vs last year. Typically this time of year 2 million + people are flying each day, right now some days don't even reach 100,000.

https://www.tsa.gov/coronavirus/passenger-throughput




Wild guess but I say the border will be the last to reopen, even if it is airlines wont rush to start back, some like American have already cut their summer international schedule, AA cut theirs by 60% and possibly more cuts coming, they are not seeing sufficient demand for summer travel, and not like people will suddenly want to start travelling again, and other countries will keep their borders shut, so until the world is open again, expect air travel to remain somewhat limited.

scrubbedexpat096

Exactly, the airlines had already stopped most flights to China 5/6 days before trump's ban, he can lift the ban if he wants but people aren't going to just start flying about for a variety of reasons.

cxx

Probably after they re-open the border with canada, and it looks like that'll be mid-May if we're extremely lucky.