International travel demand is coming back but American Airlines Group Inc. CEO Robert Isom says the recovery could be even stronger if not for the U.S. government.
"There are things that we're doing as a country that are actually hindering the recovery of demand internationally," Isom told analysts during an Oct. 20 conference call. According to an online tracker maintained by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs, the wait time for a visitation visa in Rio de Janeiro is 364 days. For Mexico City, the wait time is 647 days and in New Delhi, India, the wait time is 894 days.
Potential travelers — many of whom want to come to the U.S. to do business — have increasingly decided to conduct their meetings in places outside of the U.S., Isom said. One of the challenges for the State Department has been staffing. According to the department, revenue from the application fees that fund visa processing operations was cut nearly in half and it had to leave more than 300 overseas consular officer positions unfilled in 2020 and 2021.