The Responses of the Market Concerning the Impact of COVID-19 on Different Sectors of the Aviation Industry

International aviation industry has been severely hit first by the COVID-19 outbreak and second by diverse national measures adopted across different countries aimed at containing the pandemic. In particular, these circumstances have drastically affected passenger transportation. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) airline revenues have fallen by hundreds of billions of US dollars. However, only at the end of the pandemic it will be possible to quantify the loss and the damages caused by COVID-19. China, the original epicenter, was the first to ban certain domestic and international travels to prevent the spread of the virus, followed by the EU and the US. The financial implications on the global industry were relatively limited, due to the monopoly of state-backed Chinese airlines in that market. With the virus’ spread to the other big aviation markets in Europe and then North America, the situation has become a global and serious issue which has put the existence of many operators at risk. Governments all around the world, and institutions like the EU Commission have shown their willingness to give a hand to this so hard-hit industry by providing financial aid, while airlines initiated restructuring to overcome and re-emerge from the crisis stronger.