Delta summer international flights already 75% booked

No wonder!! I was taking a look at various options in the summer and kept getting search results saying "sold out" and thought that had to be a mistake or that I had selected a day that they did not fly into that particular city but turns out they were actually sold out!! Hopefully they starting adding capacity soon!!

The strong demand for flying means higher fares for customers. The amount passengers paid to fly each mile on Delta was up 17% compared to both a year earlier and the same period in 2019. Total passenger revenue when adjusted for capacity, another key measure of fares, was up 27% compared to a year ago and 14% from the same period in 2019. And planes were fuller, with Delta selling 81% of available seats, up from 75% a year earlier.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/13/business/delta-earnings/index.html

It's not your imagination; planes are fuller and prices are up

75% Sold.

More people booking early than pre COVID? Well with all the scare articles that's probably true.
More people in general than pre COVID? Only time will tell; but I dont think so?
Fewer seats? Yes, apparently because the airlines are still struggling to man flights after the pandemic. .

If its more booking early and its not significantly more passengers in general, then we could see prices go down when sales start to dwindle. Or things may look better if they react to this and find a way to put more planes in the air, but not holding my breath on that .... pilots like everyone else want work-from-home jobs.

My flight to Europe 31 May - 4 July actually went down about $200 from the time i first checked it about 6 weeks ago until the time I bought it last week. But that's probably an anomaly.

People are claiming 1000's more for a ticket, but airfare is only up 10.4% over pre-pandemic rates. I can live with 10.4% as that's less than inflation in the same period.

So a $1,000 ticket in 2019 now costs $1,100. I can recoup $100 on a trip. I think the perception is stronger because this is happening over high season and people are still thinking about what they paid for the October or February trip.

But yes it does cost more and it is a bummer.

Well, we are after all only 9 1/2 weeks from the start of summer. There have been flights cut from the summer schedules. Delta cut nearly 2000 flights from its schedule out of New York and DC -- https://www.flyertalk.com/articles/over-11000-flights-cut-from-new-york-and-washington-schedules-for-summer-2023.html

A few other things to keep in mind. Aircraft fleet and pilot retirement accelerated during the pandemic. There are about 25,500 commercial aircraft in service in 2022/2023 vs 27,800 in service in 2020. International seat capacity is down 19% February 2023 over February 2019. While passenger demand is expected to be 3% over that of 2019.

Decreased capacity with increased demand at the height of travel season plus pent up money, is going to fill aircraft sooner and drive up prices.

No, they really won’t be able to add more flights. As the article linked above points out cuts are being made by the federal aviation administration not necessarily because the airlines wanted to cut them so they can’t add those back in. And of course you have to have a landing slot and if you don’t have a landing slot you can’t just add a flight.

Actually, more of the cuts were domestic because of the landing slot issue. If you don’t use a landing slot in some international airports for a period of time, it is considered abandoned, and can be given to your competitor, and JetBlue is out there, circling looking for landing spots.

. You might see some carriers try to add bigger planes, but that’s about the best they can do.

This is one reason why I’m flying to Europe in late September. I avoid summer crowds and the hot weather. Plus airlines were offering great deals for autumn travel. This was before the federal government got involved in cutting back flights which artificially raises the airfare and hurts right in the pocketbook. I took advantage of a deal on Delta a couple of months ago for roundtrip between JFK and Frankfurt. Nobody is offering savings in the summer.

As the article linked above points out cuts are being made by the federal aviation administration

That's not actually what the article says. Do to congestion created by the training backlog, the FAA is temporarily waiving the "Use it or Lose it" rules on slot-restricted airports. Released from this obligation, airlines themselves have chosen to cancel flights.

I purchased my flight to London from AirFrance.com for a great price--and the flights are on Delta from our mid size home city.

Our last flight to Europe was on KLM going and Delta on the return. KLM's food was beyond awful, and the flight attendants downright unfriendly. The Delta experience coming home was 100% great in every way.