Understanding COVID-19’s impact on the airline sector
Guidance for airline executives
Rising to the challenges of a crisis is nothing new to airlines and the broader aviation and travel sector. Just as the industry has overcome past health epidemics, economic recessions, unfortunate safety incidents and other debilitating events, it too will overcome the COVID-19 crisis. The actions that government, industry leaders and individual airlines take during this period will influence how deep the crisis reaches, how long the effects last, how quickly the industry recovers, to what extent the industry will be transformed and which companies will emerge relatively stronger than their peers.
Airlines have an array of choices to make, and this article outlines a number of actions they can take to respond, recover and prepare to thrive in the new normal, including:
- Putting people first
- Transforming the supply chain
- Adapting to consumer shifts
- Leveraging loyalty
- Recalibrating investments
- Reimaging partners
- Repurposing people ad assets
- Protecting the brand
