Regional airports: Covid-19 impact

This paper focuses on estimates of the medium- and long-term impacts of Covid-19 as seen within the aviation industry. The authors do that by discussing the results of a series of in-depth interviews with senior industry executives. These interviews were conducted during the first weeks of the crisis, as the governments all over the world started to implement widespread lockdown measures. It was a period of extreme uncertainty, hence the analysis does not deal with specific recovery scenarios. Instead, the focus is placed on identifying structural aspects of the aviation industry that will shape its medium- and long-term response to sudden changes in passenger and cargo traffic. These structural elements incorporate supply, demand, regulation and business ethics.

This paper analyses the price responses of airports to a demand collapse, such as that prompted by Covid-19. In the crisis, airports need to achieve viability, in the short run through sufficient liquidity, and in the long run, by covering costs. From a public policy viewpoint, price increases in a crisis are argued to be undesirable, as they would further jeopardise the viability of airlines and tourism as well as the wider economic transport benefits such as connectivity. The institutional environment of airports differs from airport to airport; some are publicly owned, others are private but regulated, and others face competition. The price response of each (of 6) types of airport is considered, and how policy could respond to keep prices low in the crisis while ensuring longer term viability.

This paper discusses the long-term effects of low-cost carrier (LCC) presence at European airports and identifies the airports that have benefited the most from LCC consolidation since 2001. The research uses ‘LCC Market Share’, in terms of seats, to measure the relative importance of LCCs within each airport; and introduces ‘EU LCA Rank’ as a normalised metric of the capacity share of every airport in the European low-cost segment. It evaluates the trends between 2001 and 2019 in all airports in Europe using OAG supply information (seats by carrier). Results show two different phases of LCC rise in Europe, 2001 to 2008 and 2009 to 2019, marked by the effects of the financial crisis of the Great Recession.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting travel restrictions and fall in consumer demand led to a dramatic and unprecedented reduction in passenger flights across Europe. As borders closed, national Governments advised against all but essential travel and passenger demand disappeared, European airlines were forced to quickly respond to the downturn and impose unprecedented cost saving measures to protect their business. The aim of this paper is to examine the ways in which major European passenger airlines responded to the height of the COVID-19 crisis in the period March – May 2020. Using data from Eurocontrol, the European network manager, the paper identifies the responses individual airline operators and parent companies took to contract and consolidate their operations. The findings show that changes to flight operations, rationalising the fleet, reducing staff numbers, and reconfiguring their networks and capacity were the most common responses. The paper concludes by discussing future considerations for airline business and management as European carriers seek to restructure their operations and adapt to a new post-COVID reality.

This discussion paper reviews novel operational concepts supporting an efficient air transport system in the post COVID-19 world aiming to regain passengers’ trust into air travel. Three operational concepts are discussed in detail: (1) an approach towards a novel business model, (2) a travel assistant application, (3) continuous screening measures.

This study investigates the impact of COVID-19 on global air transportation at different scales, ranging from worldwide airport networks where airports are nodes and links between airports exist when direct flights exist, to international country networks where countries are contracted as nodes, and to domestic airport networks for representative countries/regions. The study focuses on the spatial-temporal evolutionary dynamics of COVID-19 in air transportation networks. The study provides a comprehensive empirical analysis on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on aviation from a complex system perspective using network science tools.

COVID-19 pandemic has hit most sectors of the world and has led to many industries coming to a standstill. It has led to restrictions of movement and travel ban. As a result of these restrictions, transport sector especially in aviation has impacted badly. Currently, airline capacity is down 70 to 80 percent in April 2020 compared to April 2019, and multiple large airlines have temporarily ceased operations. Largely, almost 60 percent of the global fleet was grounded in early April 2020. In order to support the sinking capacities and revenues, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) calls on the European governments to provide relief to their airlines to sustain their operations. Furthermore, this document highlights the future of airport and air transport industry based on revenue generation sources, cost control strategies and integration of innovations with respect to variable demand and capacity during and post COVID-19.