Pent-up demand prompts European travel recovery as COVID curbs ease

'There is a lot of pent-up demand. People want to see their families and travel again,' said Phil Seymour, president of IBA Group, a UK-based consultancy and aircraft valuation firm. That echoes soaring domestic demand in the United States. 'The big overlay is that air travel demand is back and it is back in a massive way,' Sean Egan, Chief Executive of the Egan-Jones Ratings Company, told the Airfinance Journal conference. Challenges remain in the form of rising costs and staff shortages causing flights to be cancelled. Some airlines have promised more than they can deliver this summer, delegates warned.