Airline ticket prices are expected to keep rising for several reasons

Airline ticket prices are expected to keep rising for several reasons

Transcript¹

Summer travel could be a boom for U.S. airlines, with consumer demand surging. But a pilot shortage, worsened by the pandemic, might get in the way of a return to profitability.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

U.S. airlines seem to be poised² for a big rebound³ after some brutal⁴ pandemic years. But while consumer demand is up, one notable supply issue could keep the industry from really taking off. Paddy Hirsch and Adrian Ma from our daily economics podcast, The Indicator⁵ from Planet Money, explain.

ADRIAN MA, BYLINE⁶: It's an environment ripe with promise for the airlines, but profits the CEOs are predicting are not guaranteed. Airlines have laid off thousands of people during the pandemic and, while they have been hiring like mad to try and get ready for this summer, in a lot of cases they're not even close to where they need to be.

PADDY HIRSCH, BYLINE: Yeah, federal data from February found that airline staffing was down 2% from the same month in 2020. Now, 2% may not sound like much, but if demand's going to be the highest it's been in 30 years, as the CEO of United Airlines recently predicted it could be, then airlines are going to have to hurry up with the hiring if they want to reap the benefits. That means more flight attendants, more ground crew, more mechanics, all of whom have to be hired in one of the tightest labor⁷ markets in decades.

MA: And maybe the biggest challenge is happening in the nose of the aircraft. Pilots are in really short supply. Casey Murray is an airline captain with Southwest, and he's also president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association union. This shortage has been on his radar⁸ for years, and Casey says the pandemic just made a bad situation worse.

CASEY MURRAY: All the airlines shed, through various voluntary programs, early retirements⁹, and so now that we're back on the other side of it and the industry is recovering, it's really exacerbated¹⁰ and accelerated that shortage of pilots.

MA: Some airlines like Delta¹¹ and Alaska - they're trying to be proactive, so they're creating their own training programs, and that way they can have their own pipeline¹². But Casey says all that's done is create another shortage.

MURRAY: Southwest is having problems putting people through the pipeline right now due to some issues with even hiring instructors¹³ to train.

HIRSCH: And all of this is a problem for airlines. I mean, if they don't have the pilots, they can't fly the planes. If they can't fly the planes, they can't sell the seats.

MA: And the airlines appear to be dealing¹⁴ with this problem in a couple of ways. First, they're squeezing their pilots, pushing them to pull more shifts and work longer hours. And pilots are obviously not happy about this. Alaska Airlines pilots are picketing¹⁵. At Southwest, Casey Murray says his union just wrote the airline to say they want some systemic changes to be made to avoid pilot fatigue¹⁶.

HIRSCH: Pilot fatigue? I don't want a fatigued¹⁷ pilot flying my plane - or a grumpy one, for that matter. Hayley Berg is an economist¹⁸ at the travel app Hopper. She says there's - a second way airlines are reacting to this pilot shortage is by taking a highly flexible approach to the market, reducing traffic on some routes and maybe even dropping routes altogether.

HAYLEY BERG: They're going to be figuring out, dynamically, where is there the most demand? Where should we be offering a few services a day versus¹⁹ maybe just one service a day? Where do we need a large wide-body plane versus where can we just service with a smaller plane?

HIRSCH: There's a lot at stake for the airlines here. If things go wrong - another COVID spike²⁰ or a massive increase in fuel prices - demand could evaporate and put the airlines right back on life support. But if things go well this summer, it could put the airlines back in the black. So they're going to be praying for clear skies and a strong tailwind.

MA: Adrian Ma.

HIRSCH: Paddy Hirsch, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOKHOV'S "SPRING EVENING")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 poised   

a.摆好姿势不动的

参考例句：

• The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋，准备俯冲。
• Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张，手悬在电话机上。

3 rebound   

v.弹回；n.弹回，跳回

参考例句：

• The vibrations accompanying the rebound are the earth quake.伴随这种回弹的振动就是地震。
• Our evil example will rebound upon ourselves.我们的坏榜样会回到我们自己头上的。

4 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

5 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

8 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

9 retirements   

退休( retirement的名词复数 )； 退职； 退役； 退休的实例

参考例句：

• We've had two retirements in our office this year. 今年我们办公室已有二人退休。
• Those may take the form of sackings redundancies, temporary layoffs or retirements. 这些形式有开除，作为编余人员，暂时解雇或退休。

10 exacerbated   

v.使恶化，使加重( exacerbate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The symptoms may be exacerbated by certain drugs. 这些症状可能会因为某些药物而加重。
• The drugs they gave her only exacerbated the pain. 他们给她吃的药只是加重了她的痛楚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

12 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

13 instructors   

指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The instructors were slacking on the job. 教员们对工作松松垮垮。
• He was invited to sit on the rostrum as a representative of extramural instructors. 他以校外辅导员身份，被邀请到主席台上。

14 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

15 picketing   

[经] 罢工工人劝阻工人上班，工人纠察线

参考例句：

• mass picketing of the factory 罢工工人集体对工厂的封锁
• "And my chaps were also there to prevent picketing! “我的人也是防着女工们要拦厂！ 来自子夜部分

16 fatigue   

n.疲劳，劳累

参考例句：

• The old lady can't bear the fatigue of a long journey.这位老妇人不能忍受长途旅行的疲劳。
• I have got over my weakness and fatigue.我已从虚弱和疲劳中恢复过来了。

17 fatigued   

adj. 疲乏的

参考例句：

• The exercises fatigued her. 操练使她感到很疲乏。
• The President smiled, with fatigued tolerance for a minor person's naivety. 总统笑了笑，疲惫地表现出对一个下级人员的天真想法的宽容。

18 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

19 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

20 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。