March 18, 2020
Dramatic events, e.g. the terror attack 9/11, the financial crisis 2008/9, or the currently raging Coronavirus, have a huge impact on the aviation industry. The resulting instant decrease of passenger volume causes airports, airlines and other related stakeholders to sway. Especially the large infrastructure of an airport cannot just be shut down, thus fixed costs continue to run. At the same time the usually very reliable revenue from airline charges, concession rents or parking fees drop from one moment to the other due to the reduced number of flights and travelers. Operations no longer fit the demand and immediate action is required. How can such a historic crisis be tackled actively? Which measures should be put in place to ensure liquidity and minimization of the losses? And which mid- and long-term measures have to be initiated to guarantee a smooth ramp-up of operation and get back to a profitable business after the crisis as soon as possible?
IATA recently published a scenario analyses expecting a strong deterioration of the overall passenger volume as well as the estimated revenue. If the Covid-19 virus continues to spread extensively, the aviation industry might be facing a revenue loss of 252 Bn $ – mainly in the seriously impacted regions Asia Pacific, Europe and North America.¹ As a comparison, the SARS crisis in 2003 was nowhere near as extensive as the current effects of Corona, and the aviation industry took over half a year to recover from it. Coming back from our current situation may take much longer and thus require stronger and more long-term focused measures.