CAPA Live: United Airlines charts its own path through the pandemic

United Airlines has adopted different approaches from those of its larger US peers during the COVID-19 pandemic, ranging from consistently offering sobering, yet accurate, demand forecasts, to maintaining a belief that business travel will bounce back largely intact.

The airline's forward view of the recovery is unique to United, as it works to position itself for the return of international travel and bucks historical trends of larger airlines ceding domestic share to lower cost airlines during times of crisis.

On a more global scale, United believes that there is a major distinction between the aid airlines have received during COVID-19 crisis and long-standing subsidies some operators garnered before the pandemic. The primary difference is that airlines that were self-sustaining before the pandemic will maintain that status once the crisis is over.