Hawaiian Holdings CEO expects travel environment to 'evolve a lot in the next little while'

Hawaiian Holdings president and CEO Peter Ingram stated travel demand "is not going to quickly snap back to the level seen before the pandemic", citing booking load factors for 3Q2020 in the "mid 20s" (Seeking Alpha, 05-May-2020). "Bookings are also building at a much slower pace and are far more susceptible than normal to erosion", he noted, observing the industry will "have to earn the confidence of our guests and the communities we serve so that travel can resume at scale". He expects the travel environment will "evolve a lot in the next little while...don't think you can expect a summer of 80s and 90s load factor like we have in normal times but I do think there's an opportunity for us to build once we are able to open up again". Mr Ingram expects people will be "tired of being cooped up" and will "want to travel" once there is a "removable quarantine", although there will be concern regarding health and safety. He noted "part of the solution" to issues with demand rests with "testing capability, contact tracing resources and treatment capabilities to manage cases as economic activity resumes", adding: "We can look to some of the practices introduced in Asia in response to SARS as a model emulate".