The U.S. airline industry has generally faced two obstacles in enticing more people to fly: fear and fares.
Before the novel coronavirus, few feared flying thanks to the extreme rarity of airline crashes in the U.S., and domestic inflation-adjusted fares that were about the lowest ever. As a result, a record 811 million people flew within the U.S. in 2019.
Today, fares are at rock bottom, but Americans’ fear of flying may be the highest it’s ever been, as the risk of sitting in an enclosed space with several hundred strangers – seemingly the perfect conditions for an infectious disease – is making most people avoid the skies. Passenger traffic plummeted 95% in April from a year earlier and remains significantly lower than normal.
As an aviation historian, I feel a bit of deja vu. Almost two decades ago, demand similarly evaporated after the 9/11 terrorist attacks led to a nationwide grounding and fear of flying that persisted for several years. Here’s how the industry overcame passenger jitters – and what lessons it holds for today.
Overcoming Aviophobia
Although the odds of being on a plane that gets hijacked are extremely slim, the perception of this changed significantly after 9/11. In a poll ..
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