The airline industry passed a milestone this week: low-cost European carriers Ryanair and Wizz Air both announced their first profitable quarter since before the pandemic. Yet both still expected to have to cut prices to spur demand in the winter months; Ryanair cut its earnings forecast and Wizz warned it would plunge back into losses. Most large US airlines, meanwhile, still lost money before federal pandemic aid in the third quarter and reined back expectations into the first half of next year. That so much of the industry managed to survive the pandemic, when much of the global fleet was grounded, is an achievement in itself. But returning to anything like pre-pandemic levels will be a long haul.
本周，航空业跨越了一个里程碑：两家欧洲低成本航空公司瑞安航空(Ryanair)和维兹航空(Wizz Air)都宣布自疫情爆发前以来首次实现季度盈利。不过这两家公司仍然预计，冬季必须降价刺激需求；瑞安航空下调了盈利预测，维兹航空警告称它将再次陷入亏损。与此同时，如果不算联邦政府提供的疫情援助，美国大型航空公司在第三季度多数都还是亏损的，它们对明年上半年也不敢抱太高期望。该行业有如此多的公司能够在大流行病中幸存下来，这本身就了不起，毕竟国际航线大部分飞机都停飞了。但要恢复到疫情前的水平将是一个漫长的过程。