Brutal hurricane season? Airlines are doing fine

Only days after monster storm Irma made landfall in Florida, canceling and delaying thousands of flights, the head of the world's largest airline appeared unfazed, voicing glowing optimism about the future of air carriers.

Speaking at an industry conference in Washington, D.C., Doug Parker, CEO of American Airlines, said the effect of Irma and the earlier hurricane that tore through Houston will be short-lived.

'I don't anticipate a financial impact to us other than the near-term financial impact,” he said. 'I feel as good about this business as I ever have.”

How could that be in a time when monster storms are more common - and some fear that travel disruptions could become a regular occurrence amid quickening climate change?

Chalk it up to science, technology and profits.

The nation's $1.5 trillion airline industry is in the midst of one of its most financially stable eras in decades, which will help the biggest carriers absorb the short-term effects of the unusually destructive hurricane season. Increasing passenger demand and cheap fuel costs have been key in helping build the carrier's profit margins and cash reserves.

But advances in science and technology also are playing a role. Modern weather forecasting has improved to the point that airlines now can tell with high reliability the moment a storm is expected to reach a major airline hub, making it easier to cancel and reschedule flights.

'It has helped them to be prepared, move equipment out of harm's way and recover faster than in past decades,” said Helane Becker, an airline analyst for Cowen and Co.

Although it is too early to estimate the final dollar cost of the two hurricanes, the nation's bigger airlines seem prepared to overcome the financial blow despite the storms' enormous effect.

From the end of August to the first week of September, Hurricane Harvey pounded south Texas, prompting the cancellation of 11,300 flights to and from airports in Houston, according to the flight-tracking website Flightaware.com.

United Airlines, the biggest carrier at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, and Southwest Airlines, the most dominant carrier at nearby William P. Hobby Airport, took the biggest hit from Hurricane Harvey.

About a week later, Hurricane Irma began to tear through Florida and the Caribbean, forcing the closure of 40 airports and the cancellation of 14,500 flights in and out of the state and the nearby islands. As the biggest airline at Miami International Airport, American Airlines had to cancel more than 5,000 flights.

As the storm moved inland, an additional 1,100 flights were canceled from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world's busiest airport.

The canceled flights represented a fraction - less than two-tenths of one percent - of the more than 16 million flights that take off each year in the United States.

Still, the financial effect of the storms would, in previous times, have put a severe dent in the profit margins of most airlines, said Seth Kaplan, managing partner at Airline Weekly, a trade publication.

'At a different moment in history, this kind of impact could have made the difference between profits and losses,” he said.