Coronavirus | The path to recovery stalled in August

The new variant of the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on the plane industry's path to recovery, with domestic flight booking numbers decreasing 24% in August according to delta data

Consumers spent a total of $4 billion on domestic flights in August, down from the $5.26 billion which was spent in July and $6 billion in June according to the Adobe Digital Economy Index, which has tracked the variant's impact on travel.

Additionally, Thanksgiving travel bookings in August, which is usually when a surge of consumers book holiday travel plans were also down, about 18% compared to pre-pandemic times. Comparatively, 22% of Thanksgiving tickets were booked in August 2019, by the same date.

The Figures from July and August showed the path to recovery had all been derailed and that the landscape continues to be volatile, according to Adobe.

When we began tracking the airline recovery in 2021, we had anticipated July to be the tipping point, Adobe Digital Insights lead developer Vivek Pandya said. We d seen a June rebound, where $6 billion in domestic flight bookings were just 5 percent below the 2019 levels. But, as with all parts of the digital economy, outcomes will largely be shaped by the pandemic. Depressed bookings remained stable throughout the first half of September as the delta variant continued to take hold of the country.

During the first 10 days of the month, consumers spent $1.5 billion on flights, down 39% compared to prepandemic times.

As a result the flight prices again began to fall. In August, according to Adobe, prices fell 11% compared to 2019 levels.

Prior to August, prices were hitting 2019 levels. In July prices were at 2019 levels, while June prices were 1% lower. The price of oil was 8% lower than the price in 2019 in May. Prices were significantly lower earlier this year, down 28% in January.