American aviation companies were brutally hit by the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020 and are not expected to be substantially alleviated until the second half of 2021.

Analysts at FactSet estimate that the net loss of American airlines in 2020 could exceed $35 billion. This includes Southwest's first annual loss in the past 40 years.

Us airline stocks fell by a multi-year high in 2020. American's shares fell 45%, the biggest drop before the airline merged with US Airways in 2013. United fell 51%, the biggest drop since 2008. In addition, Delta shares fell 31% last year, while southwest fell 14%. Meanwhile, the S & P 500 is up more than 16% over the same period.

The COVID-19 epidemic forced airlines to shrink rapidly, cutting off routes and parking hundreds of aircraft. In response to the crisis, the total debt of American airlines increased by $67 billion to more than $172 billion in 2020, according to the American Aviation Industry Organization. In the next few years, paying off this fee will be a disadvantage.

The good news is that compared with the early days of the COVID-19 epidemic, demand for air travel has begun to recover. Analysts expect airlines to reduce losses next year and, in some cases, to turn losses into profits. The approval of the COVID-19 vaccine has also helped to boost optimism about future travel demand, although it is unclear when more members of the public will resume air travel.

Airline executives recently warned that they expected to remain tough in the coming months. Robert Isom, president of American Airlines, said earlier this week that the airline's capacity in January and February was likely to be only 45 per cent of 2019 levels.

Airline companies recently received 15 billion dollars in additional salary support in a new round of anti-epidemic relief plan signed by US President Donald Trump. The rescue plan requires airlines to retain employees until March 31 and recall more than 30000 employees who took unpaid leave when the terms of the previous stimulus package expired on October 1.