A woman holds up an umbrella to protect herself from the sun as she passes the Colosseum on a hot day in Rome, Italy, July 11, 2024.
Riccardo De Luca | Anadolu | Getty Images
Summer travel to Europe is too hot for thousands of tourists.
delta airlines President Glenn Hauenstein said travelers are choosing not to fly to Europe during the traditional peak summer travel season. Instead, they are shifting their travel destinations to cooler months, a trend airline officials have noticed in recent years as consumers seek to avoid crowds and record heat at popular destinations. .
“The weather in Europe is very hot in August, and people who can choose when to take vacations are moving into what we would call warmer months,” Hauenstein said on Thursday’s earnings call. Business (travel) hasn’t seen any major changes compared to the previous year, but travel to Europe in particular continues to shift from peaks in July and August to peaks in September and October. ”
This year’s northern hemisphere summer was the hottest on record, according to the European Union’s climate watchdog.
Airlines have been steadily extending their transatlantic schedules through much of the fall to accommodate changing patterns.
‘What we’re doing at United is extending the season’ Patrick Quayle united airlinessaid Senior Vice President of Global Network Planning and Alliances in an interview earlier this year.
The airline chose to open some European routes in March and April this year, and said some routes would operate from late October to early November. “What we’re seeing is that more and more travelers are traveling in the shoulder seasons, where they can get a little bit more value for money, and I think the weather is a little nicer, too,” he added.
