Airlines and hotels had hoped that business travel – one of the most lucrative pillars of their business – would recover in the coming months. Those hopes are fading as the busy summer travel season wears off and the proliferation of the Delta variant of Covid-19 postpones plans by some companies to return to offices and resume face-to-face meetings and events.

“I would say it’s a pause compared to continued growth. Still, we understand why it was paused, “said Ed Bastian, chief executive officer of Delta Air Lines Inc., in an interview last week.

Delta said U.S. business travel had returned to around 40% pre-pandemic levels this summer, and the airline predicted it would climb to 60% by September.

“We won’t be at 60%,” said Bastian.

About 60% of the 400-plus business travelers who responded to a Morning Consult survey for the American Hotel & Lodging Association said they would postpone upcoming trips.

Clarke Smith, an instructor for a company that provides training and consulting services to technology companies, was due to start his first work trip last month, a few weeks after his company returned to see customers in person.

“Just at the point when I was getting a little nervous when they called and said, ‘Let’s pull the plug,'” he said.

Most of the tech companies Mr. Smith works with have delayed their return to office, he said, following the example of companies like Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc. subsidiary Google. Mr Smith said he now expects to stay virtual for the rest of the year.

The more contagious new variant whets the appetite for business and leisure trips. Airlines said they have seen a slowdown in bookings and an increase in cancellations over the past few weeks.

Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, last week urged unvaccinated people to refrain from traveling for Labor Day, saying even those vaccinated should be aware of the risks involved.

The European Union introduced a new level of complexity last week when it advised members to restrict non-essential travel from the US and others have started changing entry rules.

The uncertainty left some companies paused, corporate travel advisors say, while other executives say they had no plans to resume major international trips anyway.

“We don’t travel internationally, period,” said KPMG US Chief Executive and Chair Paul Knopp, who heads around 33,000 US employees at the professional services company One Day. “

Airport traffic has started to fade. According to the Transportation Security Administration, 1.35 million people passed US airports on Tuesday. It’s the lowest since May, despite the fact that passenger traffic picked up again over the holiday weekend, with the TSA checking more than 2.1 million passengers on Friday – near the highs at the beginning of summer.

Now the business travelers who would normally be returning to the airports at this time of year could stay in place. In a survey conducted by the US Census Bureau in August, 33% of small business owners said they anticipate business travel expenses in the next six months, up from more than 37% about a month earlier.

Many people traveled back to work this summer, making their first trips home in months.

Vlad Rozanovich, president of North America for computer manufacturer Lenovo Group Ltd., was on a business trip to New York last month and met with executives from several major banks. In one conference room, green and red ticks on the table indicated where attendees could sit, and everyone wore masks. The face-to-face conversation was more natural, said Mr Rozanovich, with more small talk.

A casual conversation continued in the hallway when a bank manager mentioned the company may need to purchase as many as 20,000 high-end curved monitors for its reopened offices in more structured conversation over video.

“That’s why I like to travel and go to customers,” he said.

Burton M. Goldfield, CEO and President of TriNet Group Inc., a provider of personnel services, said travel is absolutely voluntary for its employees.

“What I’m saying is, before you even start making that decision, it has to be a business-critical meeting,” he said.

Most companies haven’t fully grounded their employees, but many are tightening restrictions on who can travel and what types of travel are allowed, said Brandon Strauss, who advises companies on their travel policies and serves as president of CapTrav, a company that tracks business travel Booking dates or

“We see that there is braking everywhere,” he said. About 21% of travel managers surveyed by the Global Business Travel Association said their companies put new travel restrictions in place in response to new variations, and another 25% said they did when you consider it.

Dell Technologies Inc. said in a memo to employees last month that domestic travel is vital to both the company’s business and customers and must be approved by an employee’s manager and vice president.

At corporate software company Citrix Systems Inc., travel remains “very, very limited,” said CEO David Henshall. A small number of employees travel to meet customers in person or to solve a problem with a customer. he said, but most companies work through video or other tools. “Our trips are only a small part of what it used to be,” said Henshall.

The most pressing question for travel companies is whether these shifts will be permanent.

Airlines remain optimistic that business travel will return in full at some point, even if it takes longer than hoped. Delta’s Mr. Bastian said, “It’s going to be different, no question about it, but there is no evidence that it’s going to go away in any way.”

This story was posted through a news agency feed with no changes to the text

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