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coronavirus affecting aviation
The Coronavirus pandemic is still having a negative severe
impact on all forms of
aviation. Starting from the end of March of this year, an estimation announced by IATA (International Air Transport Association)
a crisis costing the aviation industry a lost revenue of $252bn. The number of travelling passengers have dropped to more scary level to airlines. The US Transportation
Security Administration screened 154,000
passengers on March 30, 2020, compared
to 2.36m on the same day last year.
British Airways announced suspension
of all flights to Gatwick, the UK’s second
largest airport, on March 31.
The UK government announced that
it was to charter aircraft to repatriate its
citizens stranded abroad by international
travel restrictions and the cutting of
commercial flights. A memorandum of
understanding was signed with operators
British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, easyJet, Jet2.
com and Titan Airways on March 30 to help
bring back people from countries including
Pakistan, India, Turkey, the Philippines and
Australia. The government has allocated
up to £75m for airlines to put on special
charter flights. This would keep the costs
down for passengers, who were still
expected to pay for the tickets home.
Several carriers have seen the crisis as
an opportunity to phase out ageing types
in anticipation of a fallow period following
the pandemic’s end. For example, KLM
Royal Dutch Airlines had initially planned
to withdraw the final seven members of
its once 22-strong Boeing 747-400 fleet
by the end of 2021, but this was brought
forward to March 26.
The virus has also had an effect on the
aircraft manufacturing industry. Boeing
stopped all products in its Seattle area
plants for two weeks from March 25, in part
to allow deep cleaning of its facilities. The
787 Dreamliner plant at Charleston in South
Carolina remained open. Airbus paused
production at its Spanish facilities on March
30 to comply with local restrictions on nonessential
activities. The company’s plants
in France and Spain had only reopened a
week previously after a period of closure to
implement new health and safety measures.
On March 20, Longview Aviation Capital,
parent company of De Havilland Aircraft
of Canada and Viking Air, suspended
manufacturing of new production Dash
8-400 and Series 400 Twin Otter aircraft
at Viking’s facilities in Victoria, British
Columbia and Calgary, Alberta.
The UK military response has included
the deployment of RAF helicopters to
meet any requests for assistance from
the NHS.
In addition, the virus has affected
military training exercises, with Frisian
Flag in the Netherlands cancelled, Cold
Response in Norway cut short and Joint
Warrior 20-1 in UK waters reduced in scale.
On March 31, the government stated
that their guidance on coronavirus
precluded recreational GA flying. Aircraft
maintenance could continue as long as
social distancing and cleaning protocols
were followed.
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