United Airlines CCO says the company leans more on tourism

The commercial director of United Airlines (UAL) confirmed on Wednesday that one of the airline industry the biggest changes in the era of COVID-19 it will be more permanent than originally imagined. Andrew Nocella said the company is increasingly leaning on its leisure customer base as companies continue to spend cautiously around travel.

“I expect it to continue to go in the right direction, but I don’t expect it to return to 2019 levels,” he said at the Skift Global Forum conference in New York.

Consulting firm Deloitte recently said that nominal spending could soon hit new highswith 73% of business travelers expecting to travel more this year – a 15-point increase from 2023. But the Global Business Travel Association does not expect an inflation-adjusted recovery in the sector until at least 2027.

Instead, Nocella said, the norm will be less business and more pleasure. This transition could create its own challenges, however. While business travelers go to business capitals to do business, tourists go everywhere, whether they are wanted or not. Nocella pointed to the popularity of places like Italy, Portugal and Spain.

“All in all, southern Europe has had incredible demand after the pandemic,” he said.

When Gordon Smith, Skift’s airlines editor, asked Nocella if the company felt embarrassed about contributing to so-called overtourism (in Barcelona, ​​locals have started throwing out their many unwanted visitors). with water guns), Nocella gave a basic answer: “We put airplanes where people want to go.”