Pandemics and Airline Industry – A Case Study

Airline industry had a very rosy outlook when the year 2020 started. Many airline
operators were planning to expand their fleet many-fold owing to the ever increasing
number of air travellers. The proliferation of ‘novel corona virus (COVID-19)’ on
a global scale changed all that. By the end of March 2020, most of the airlines
were looking at a bleak future with many of them going bankrupt. Traditionally,
an epidemic outbreak in any country affects the transnational travel industry
since the vehicles for travel whether ships or aircrafts inadvertently become the
carriers of these diseases and transmit them globally. Many local disease outbreaks
are transmitted to many countries through travellers. This phenomenon has been
happening for a long period of time since before the Spanish flu outbreak. Presently,
most of the countries ban air travel first, whenever there is disease outbreak. When
the disease goes to pandemic proportions this adversely affects the airline industry.
The present pandemic is likely to permanently change the airline industry as people
around the world are shifting to alternative technology to get connected. This case
attempts to look at the present situation and the likely future of the airline industry
in the light of the present pandemic.