Analysis of airline employees’ perceptions of corporate preparedness for COVID-19 disruptions to airline operations

The focus of this research is an analysis of U.S.-based airline employees' responses to corporate preparedness for the COVID-19 disruptions to domestic and international airline operations. A survey was issued during May and June 2020 to U.S.-based employees of major and national carriers and U.S.-based employees from foreign carriers. The research project consists of a questionnaire used to answer the key question: What is your perception of your company's preparedness for and response to the COVID-19 outbreak? Sub-questions address three key areas of employees' responses: 1) Was the airline prepared prior to the pandemic? 2). Did the airline respond appropriately to the pandemic? 3) Is the airline positioned well to recover from the pandemic? Findings indicate that airlines' risk management systems are recognized as a weakness in the organizations; however, they are taking steps to enhance their risk management protocols since dealing with the global coronavirus pandemic. Additional findings indicate that air transport companies need to move away from their reliance on the existing risk management system that is based on historical disruptions and toward a more proactive system. The last finding indicates that knowing and understanding the full potential of the impact of pandemics (or epidemics) may be advantageous in recovering business quickly.