SAVE - Airline booking trends stay weak as recovery timeline pushed back

Despite some media focus on the high level of travel over the Thanksgiving weekend, forward-looking airline booking trends continue to look weak. Bank of America says system sales for flights booked in the U.S. fell 82.9% Y/Y for the week ending November 29 vs. -83.2% for the prior week. BofA's bookings breakdown: "Domestic net sales fell -80.6%, a slight deceleration from the prior week (-79.5%) as better volumes (-63.4% vs -65.6% the prior week) offset softer pricing (-47.1% vs -40.4% the prior week). International net sales ticked up to -84.9% (vs -86.5% the prior week) on better ticket prices (-52.0% vs -56.6% the prior week) as volumes were mostly unchanged at -68.6%. Thus far in 4Q20, net sales are tracking -81.2% compared to -89.2% in 3Q20. The sequential improvement is tracking behind our recovery estimate for a 10pt improvement, which has led to most US airlines lowering outlooks for 4Q20

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Airline booking trends stay weak as recovery timeline pushed back