United Airlines Holdings Inc. said yesterday that it has cut its flight schedule by 90 percent in May and expects similar cuts for June as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, and warned that travel demand that is now “essentially at zero shows no sign of improving in the near term,” making job cuts likely, Reuters reported. Like other U.S. airlines, travel demand for Chicago-based United has cratered as most U.S. states have ordered residents to stay at home in order to contain spread of the coronavirus. United said that it flew less than 200,000 people in the first two weeks of April, a 97% drop from the more than 6 million people it flew during the same time in 2019. It expects to fly fewer people during the entire month of May than it did on a single day in May of last year, said Chief Executive Oscar Munoz and President Scott Kirby. “The historically severe economic impact of this crisis means even when travel demand starts to inch back, it likely will not bounce back quickly,” they said.
