Soon after the Orlando shootout, the world has been shocked yet again by the latest terrorist attack in Turkey. The Ataturk international airport in Istanbul was attacked on Jun 28 by three suicide bombers. The incident resulted in 41 casualties apart from injuring many more. Foreigners too are likely to be among those victimized in the attack. All flights from the airport were suspended after the incident for a few hours.
One of the three attackers began shooting in the departures area before all three blew themselves in the arrivals hall. The Turkish police attempted to avert the incident by firing at the suicide bombers but the situation could not be contained.
Globally, leaders and heads of states have condemned this attack on Europe’s third busiest airport. Although no terrorist or militant outfit has claimed responsibility for this attack yet, the attackers are suspected to bear allegiance to either ISIS or Kurdish PKK. ISIS is becoming a major threat in Europe as evidenced by the previous terrorist attacks in Brussels and Paris. Additionally, Turkey has been facing constant challenges from Kurdish militants in the country’s southeast region.
Impact on U.S. Airlines
This attack is expected to have a global impact on airlines. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration had earlier suspended all U.S. flights from the Ataturk airport, which was later lifted. The Port authority of New York and New Jersey have increased surveillance and patrol across the three major airports in the state following the attack.
Travelers have already been jittery about visiting Europe owing to earlier attacks in the continent and many might end up cancelling their travel plans post the latest incident. The U.S. Independence Day weekend is around the corner and hence, the aforesaid attack is expected to adversely impact U.S. airlines.
Airlines for America (“A4A”) – the trade organization for leading U.S. airlines – expects summer traffic to reach an all-time high this year and surpass the record set in 2015 by 4%. Passenger traffic between Jun 1 and Aug 31 is likely to be around 231.1 million compared with 222.3 million in the year-ago comparable period. However, the airline industry stocks have still been underperforming owing to global issues resulting in delayed or cancelled plans.
Most of the top airlines, such as American Airlines Group Inc. AAL, Delta Air Lines Inc. DAL, United Continental Holding Inc.’s UAL United Airlines and Southwest Airlines Co. LUV, have been struggling to life passenger unit revenues despite higher margins due to low oil prices. Therefore, macroeconomic uncertainties and unprecedented attacks pose greater challenges for airline companies.
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