COVID-19 and Airlines - Start planning for recovery now

Each day brings word of additional cases of COVID-19 (Coronavirus), broader geographic areas significantly affected, more cities and even countries locked down. The airline industry is historically among the most heavily impacted by broad-reaching health events, and this is proving no exception. There was initially hope that the virus could be quickly contained, thereby limiting the impact. Unfortunately, as the confirmed cases of COVID-19 continue to increase and spread globally, it is now a question of how extensively and for how long the crisis will last. As a result, airlines around the world are forced to slash capacity and ground their fleets for a yet unknown period.

Previous pandemics like H1N1 and SARS illustrated that even limited travel advisories could adversely impact travel worldwide. IATA reported1 that within 3 months of the SARS outbreak in APAC, industry-wide demand was down 35%. The current situation is even bleaker with travel bans being introduced more…