Airlines Enter Earnings Season Wrestling With Challenges: What to Expect？

The airline industry is still dealing with issues that have plagued it all year, according to Cowen analyst Helane Becker. These include volatile jet fuel prices, supply chain issues causing delays in maintenance and repair, aircraft delivery delays and difficulty hiring and retaining employees, particularly pilots.

Airlines with oil hedges are set to save billions of dollars on their fuel bills this year, the first such gains since the industry was ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic.

Both Southwest Airlines and Air France-KLM said they stand to gain about $1 billion each from their hedging policies, a benefit that will at least partially cushion the companies against higher oil prices.

It's hard to remember what a normal aviation market looks like. Still, we're getting closer to it with each passing week.

Passenger traffic in North America and Latin America in July was just 10% and 11.5% below levels in the same month of 2019 in July, the International Air Transport Association saidin September. In some places, numbers are even healthier. The airports in Cancun and Las Vegas recently posted record passenger numbers.