COVID-19 has hurt the world at large, from the economy to global health, and this also includes airlines and air travel companies. So far, ten airlines have filed for bankruptcy, and many more will surely join them during crises due to the pandemic caused by the virus from China.

The airlines that have filed for bankruptcy so far are: South African Airways, Avianca, Latam, Thai, Air Mauritius, Tame, Flyest some subsidiaries of Norwegian or LGW - the German regional airline that operated for Eurowings, the subsidiary of Lufthansa, which filed for voluntary bankruptcy. although in certain cases with bankruptcy modalities in order to protect yourself against creditors instead of closing.

The global debt of the airlines will amount to 550,000 million dollars at the end of 2020, which will mean an increase of 28% (120,000 million) compared to the levels registered at the beginning of the year, according to the data collected by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Of this amount, 123,000 million correspond to state loans.

Los datos

According to the data provided by the last report of ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) regarding the analysis of the pandemic on June 29, indicate that the possible impact of COVID-19 in the world scheduled for the whole year 2020, compared to the base would be:

• General reduction ranging from 42% to 52% of the seats offered by the airlines.
• Global reduction from 2,344 to 2,978 million passengers.
• Approx. USD 308 to 391 billion of potential loss of gross operating income from airlines.

The impacts depend on the duration and magnitude of the outbreak and containment measures, the degree of consumer confidence for air travel, and economic conditions, etc.

International passenger traffic by 2020

Compared to the base:

• General reduction that varies from 55% to 67% of the seats offered by the airlines
• General reduction from 1,194 to 1,457 million passengers.
• Approx. USD 207 to 256 billion of potential loss of gross operating income from airlines

National passenger traffic by 2020

Compared to the base:

• General reduction ranging from 32% to 42% of seats offered by airlines.
• Global reduction from 1,150 to 1,524 million passengers.
• Approx. Potential loss of $101-135 billion from gross operating income of airlines.

The consequences

Latam Airlines CEO Roberto Alvo announced that the company must untie 1,400 people in Chile, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador due to the serious crisis the industry is going through. To this move to which the Chilean company had to resort is also added Air Canada, which announced the dismissal of more than half of its plant. Canadian airline Air Canada has announced the layoff of 20,000 of its 38,000 employees on June 7 in response to the downturn in activity stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.

The great surprise has come from American Airlines, Delta, United and Southwest, which are planning to make thousands of layoffs or cut work hours after the millionaire aid received from the US ($ 66 billion). United, for example, plans to fire about 3,500 people from the management area and 30% of its 12,200 pilots. American Airlines is cutting 5,100 employees from Texas offices, in addition to the more than 3,000 who have accepted early retirement, and Delta is offering retirement packages to its 91,000 employees to reduce the workforce. The plans to fire have saddled the US Senate and asked airlines to withdraw them.

Finalmente

In my own experience as a pilot I have been affected by this virus, The saddest experience a pilot can have is to stop flying, thousands of pilots around the world are going through the same thing, Even through difficult or tragic economic moments like some families in where we have to seek to reinvent ourselves while this pandemic lasts.

In spite of everything they are material losses and these moments human lives are more important than anything else. I am also grateful to be able to share this space with you now to tell you a little about myself and my experiences as a pilot, some tips and news related to aviation.

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