New perspective: How COVID-19 Changed the Aviation World?

Aviation serves as a symbol for global economic health and international relations, reflecting the ups and downs of economic cycles, political relations, and public health crises. However, the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most devastating global health crises in modern history, has totally reshaped the world in huge ways, with the aviation industry experiencing some of the heaviest blows. The pandemic has disrupted air travel on an unexpected scale, leaving the industry facing challenges unlike any it has faced before. In this article, we will delve into the impact of COVID-19 on aviation worldwide.

The impact of COVID-19 on aviation industry

Air travel is closely linked to a country’s economic conditions, and this link is obvious in many situations. For example, global aviation revenues dropped 16% in 2008 when the Global Financial Crisis hit. Other examples are the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the SARS outbreak, which affected air traffic greatly due to the fear that was spread among people.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic was different from any other event. Since the pandemic started, over 2.7 million people have died worldwide due to this virus. COVID-19 halted airport operations worldwide in the second quarter of 2020. This caused revenue and traffic losses in all regions. Countries like France, Poland, Canada, India, and Chile increased lockdowns to control infection waves.

Now, let’s go through the analysis and estimates according to the Airports Council International (ACI) World.

2020: Impact on passenger traffic

• COVID-19 caused over 1 billion passenger losses in 2020. This is a 64.6% drop in global traffic compared to the pre-pandemic forecast. This translates to a 63.3% decline compared to 2019 levels.
• With comparable drops of 5% from the projected baseline, Europe and the Middle East were the two most affected regions.
• The Asia-Pacific region saw a 61.3% decline compared to the projected baseline and a 59.8% decline compared to 2019. However, Asia-Pacific saw the most traffic drop of any region, with a loss of 2.15 billion passengers in 2020 compared to the projected baseline.
• Latin America-Caribbean was least affected. It saw a 61.1% decline from the projected baseline and a 59.8% decline from 2019 levels.
• The international traffic virtually collapsed, with a decline of more than 75% compared to 2019
• Domestic traffic declined 54.7% compared to 2019. However, it recovered faster thanks to rebounds in China, Russia, and the U.S.
  

2020: Impact on airport revenues

• The COVID-19 crisis cost the airport sector approximately $125 billion in revenue in 2020. This is a 66.3% decrease from the $188 billion pre-pandemic projection.
• In the second quarter of 2020, there were losses close to $43.5 billion compared to the projected baseline, which is a decrease of over 1%.
• In the same way as the passenger traffic, Europe and the Middle East were the most affected regions. For example, Europe recorded losses of about $4 billion for 2020. Europe and the Middle East suffered a reduction of about 70.5% of their revenues for 2020 compared to the projected baseline.

Total change in conventional ways

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many traditional ways of doing business in aviation. For example, in low-cost aircraft or economic classes, passengers face a problem of crowding and contact, which has become very dangerous during the pandemic. How will this problem be solved? There have been some suggestions, such as separating passengers by leaving some seats empty, but this solution will lead to a decrease in the number of passengers and thus a significant decrease in profits

Some airports have also implemented a strategy of screening passengers before departure or after arrival, but all these measures have caused increased costs and slowed down production and capacity. Airports will also need larger spaces to spread out passengers and isolate sick passengers, which will cost a lot of time, effort, and money and thus also reduce profits.

In conclusion, the COVID-19 pandemic has left an indelible mark on the world, fundamentally altering the way we live, work, and connect. The global aviation industry, once a symbol of seamless international connectivity, experienced the hardest hit, with traffic becoming very low and almost nonexistent in some countries. As the world gradually recovers, the pandemic has underscored the critical importance of preventive measures, such as vaccination, testing, and health protocols, to ensure safe travel and prevent the resurgence of global health crises.

Do you think there will be more creative ways in future aviation to protect ourselves and the world from such pandemics? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

References

• The impact of covid-19 on the airport business and the path to recovery. ACI World. (2021, August 5).
• Covid-19: Challenging time ahead for aviation. Frontier Economics. (n.d.).
• Featured image by Malcolm Lu (a.planes.portrait) via Instagram

Roaa Khaled

Roaa Khaled Ahmad. A 21 years old Nanotechnology and Nanoelectronics engineering student studying at zewail city of science and technology. She participated in many activities throughout her years in university including technical activities and artistic ones. She is obsessed with aviation and space and hope to specialize in this field in the future.

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