"It is very clear that when restrictions are removed or relaxed, there is an immediate response – and it is immediate: the transatlantic spike was almost to the second," Walsh said.
Walsh, a veteran of the world's biggest international travel market as the former boss of British Airways and its parent IAG, said the bounce-back inBut he played down the risk of the airline industry lurching into an economically damaging Atlantic capacity war. "I don't think they will suffer economically because what you have seen is fantastic demand," Walsh said, adding demand had proved robust between 2011 and its 2019 pre-crisis peak.
"I expect when we look back on this period we will see a very significant uptick in travel across the Atlantic from Europe," he added.