The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global air travel has been unprecedented. The UN agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), estimates that for the first quarter of 2020, there has been a reduction of 612 million passengers compared with 2019, with domestic and international air traffic expected to decrease by 50% for 2020 as a whole, as compared to 2019 figures. The global trade body, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), estimates US$419bn worth of lost revenue for airlines, representing roughly a 50% reduction in revenues when compared with 2019.
In the UK, the world’s third largest aviation market, the National Air Traffic Service (NATS) estimates air traffic is down by almost 90% compared with figures for the same period last year, with similar figures for other Western European countries.
There are, however, now tentative signs from the likes of Johns Hopkins University, that in the UK and other European countries the number of new infections is declining and the rate of
