IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE AVIATION INDUSTRY: AN OVERVIEW OF GLOBAL AND SOME LOCAL EFFECTS

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic temporarily paralysed demand for air travel causing long-term implications for all industry stakeholders involved. Nobody was spared, and without government support, many airlines, airports and air navigation service providers (ANSP), would have gone out of business already in the first year of the pandemic. In order to assess the global impact of COVID-19 on the aviation industry, this paper reviewed data from publications by various international aviation organizations, academic papers, and annual reports by airlines, airports and ANSPs, etc. The findings show that the global aviation industry was severely hit by the pandemic, pushing all stakeholders to adopt countermeasures, with the most common response by airlines being the reconfiguring their networks and capacity or switching to cargo operations, airports and other operators reacted by reducing staff numbers, while passengers had to adapt to the new travel rules and the new normality.