On July 11, 2024, in Rome, Italy, the weather was hot. A woman held an umbrella to protect herself from the sun while passing the Colosseum.
Ricardo De Luca | Ricardo De Luca Anadolu | Getty Images
Summer trips to Europe are getting too hot for thousands of tourists.
Delta Air Lines President Glenn Hauenstein said travelers are choosing not to fly to Europe during the traditional summer travel season. Instead, they are shifting travel to cooler months, a trend airline officials have noted over the past few years as consumers look to escape crowds and record temperatures in popular destinations.
“It’s been really hot in August in Europe, and people have been able to choose when they can take their vacations, and we can call it a milder month,” Hauenstein said on Thursday’s earnings call. Business (travel) was about the same as last year. Not much has changed, but travel to Europe continues to change, particularly 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 monitoring agency.
For much of the fall, airlines have been extending the hours of transatlantic flights to adapt to changing patterns.
“What we do at Manchester United is extend the season,” said Patrick Quayle. United AirlinesSenior Vice President of Global Network Planning and Alliances said in an interview earlier this year.
He said the airline has chosen to launch some European routes in March and April this year and will operate some of these routes in late October and early November. He added: “We are seeing more and more tourists traveling in the off-season where they get more value and I think the weather is better.”
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