Originally Posted by
sdsearch
And some of that domestic travel, on the other hand, may be a temporary spike. Some people booked domestic flights for this summer back when they were still super-cheap. Many people booked domestic flights only because they were wary of booking the international flights they would have preferred.
So it's unclear yet whether this surge in domestic flying will continue once much more of the rest of the world opens up. It's also unclear how much it will continue outside of the summer, if it's much more leisure travel than it was back in 2019. And it's unclear how many people will lessen their domestic leisure flying as prices go up.
Of course it is a bet on the future. AS is betting that not growing will work out for them. Only time will tell if that bet is the right one. ULCCs are growing very fast and other carriers will have 2 1/2 years to take advantage of the fact that AS has reduced or dropped out of many markets--especially from California. It really depends on whether or not other carriers focus their growth in the Western part of the US or elsewhere. We will see what happens in a couple years. AS may either benefit by staying small and saving money or find themselves losing more and more market share and be cornered back in SEA. At this point, nobody can really say which scenario will play out. Both could be equally likely at this point.