Following the shutdown of multiple countries due to the Coronavirus epidemic in early 2020, the airline industry was faced with its biggest challenge in aviation history. Commercial travel reached an ..
Following the shutdown of multiple countries due to the Coronavirus epidemic in early 2020, the airline industry was faced with its biggest challenge in aviation history. Commercial travel reached an all-time low, which forced airlines to cut costs temporarily and permanently, cancelling flights, grounding aircraft, and in some cases laying off or furloughing employees (Taylor, 2020). Nonetheless, the industry does show signs of recovery, and passenger demand is expected to return to pre-Covid-19 levels. The purpose of this research study was twofold: 1. To identify the key factors that are affecting the recovery process of airline demand; and 2. To identify, through a systematic review of the outlook of some major stakeholders and agencies within the aviation industry, when they perceive commercial travel will return to pre-pandemic volume, as well as relate daily traveler number in U.S. airports with daily U.S. Covid-19 cases in 2021. Expectations and judgmental forecasts from some of the major airlines and organizations within the industry were then analyzed and compared, addressing the lack of insight on when airline market recovery could be expected to return to pre-Covid-19 levels.
