Can aviation beat sector turbulence? - B-AIM PICK SELECTS

With the government set to remove quarantine measures for travellers arriving from a number of countries, holiday bookings are expected to boom. However, in the airline industry, demand is not expected to return to 2019 levels for several years and the impact of the coronavirus lockdown has seen jobs cut across the sector. On LinkedIn, members have shared their thoughts on the sector’s return, highlighting the huge knock-on impact on connected roles, from ground handling to engineering. They’ve also shared their views on safety, how quickly people will return to flying and the longer-term outlook for their sector.

Aviation industry is a high investment and high volume industry. Therefore the reduction in passenger volumes will definitely have long term impact on the profitability of most businesses in this industry. I agree that many are keen to travel abroad on holiday or business. However looking at the devastation of this pandemic I doubt consumer demand will recover to passenger volumes reported in 2019, anytime soon. I would give it 2 to 3 years for demand to pick up again. I think the defining point for recovery will be how aviation organisations adapt and diversify. Adapting safety measures to reduce both chances of contracting corona virus whilst travelling and reducing potential of moving infections from one side of of the world to the other. Innovation will be key. I think safety measure such as reducing numbers of seats available per flight, spreading customers across the aircraft and provisions of personal protective equipment may be needed. Most aviation organisations need to diversify to survive. Dependency on customer air fares has exposed many organisations to uncontrollable risk. New business models need to be explored. What ever happens the industry will never be the same. I have worked in aviation for 10 years and the last 4 months have caused seismic changes in the way aviation industry operates.