Contested industrial relations in the airline industry in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic had an immediate impact on employees in the European airline industry. The crisis shifted concerns from the usual goals, such as improving working conditions, immediately towards job security and protection against dismissal. This paper analyses the negotiations on the initial personnel measures after the onset of the crisis in 2020 in the context of national institutions and firm-specific factors. Empirically, the study is based on four case studies of airlines with different business models in two different national institutional environments. The results indicate that the crisis was handled differently across airlines, although firm-specific factors were found to affect the quality of industrial relations in European airlines in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis more than national institutional settings. The paper suggests furthermore that the role of the respective national governments has been important during the crisis.