It will be the end of an era: the 1er May, Delta Airlines will no longer leave the middle seat in its planes free. The American airline considered that this precaution against the spread of Covid-19, which it was almost alone to take, was unnecessary, with the mass vaccination of Americans and the return of confidence. So the economy is returning to normal in the United States. Airports are busy again and ticket prices are soaring. After declining 62% in 2020, air traffic is rebounding, although it is still down by around 40% compared to 2019.
International tourists and business travelers have not returned, but Americans want to visit their parents and go on vacation where it is possible: not Europe or Asia or Canada, but the Caribbean , Cancun Mexico, or the Rocky Mountains. The bonus goes to “vaccinated” destinations: American Airlines has launched two direct flights to Tel Aviv, from New York and Miami. This refocusing on individuals favors low-cost companies, which raise capital by going public, such as Frontier Airlines and Sun Country Airlines.
The hotel occupancy rate rose to 50%, after a low in October 2020. Even though we are far from the pre-crisis 65%, the signs are positive: in New York, the Mandarin Oriental reopened, while the Peninsula will do so in early June. Sign of the times, Wall Street is interested in the sector: the financial groups Blackstone and Starwood have bought the hotel chain Extended Stay America for 6 billion dollars (5.1 billion euros), while two groups of investors fight to take over the car rental giant Hertz, which in May filed for bankruptcy protection.
Morale is back
1.9 million New Yorkers took the subway in early March. That’s less than the 5.5 million before the pandemic, but the deserted oars of months of crisis are a thing of the past. Disneyland has reopened in Los Angeles, while Las Vegas dreams of new “roaring twenties”, roaring twenties after a blank year. The US economy will grow by around 6.5%, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), twice as much as expected in December 2020, due to an economy boosted by stimulus packages and free money, and the progress of vaccination (30% of the population has received at least one dose).
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