Aviation and the Internet – Some Legal and Economic Issues

Abstract

It is incontrovertible that, with the ravages inflicted on the world by the Covid-19 pandemic, travel by air has been vastly reduced amidst strict quarantine measures imposed on passengers. The resuscitation of air services to the volume that existed in 2019 will not only take a long time but will also require new approaches to connectivity. Trading in air transport will involve more reliance on digital technology and platforms such as the Internet that would promote communication of data and relevant details of route structures and threats posed thereto. Artificial intelligence and the Internet will be essential in providing data and details in a timely manner for both States and their airlines to take effective measures against the spread of another pandemic, the occurrence of which scientists are saying is probable in the foreseeable future. Against this backdrop of ominous reality, the aviation community has no alternative but to lean heavily on spontaneity in the exchange of information to suspend or terminate air services that connect potential hotspots that are likely to spread a virus which infects a particular city and could settle in other cities that are connected by air. This article inquires into the relevance and applicability of technology and the role that the Internet could play in what some call The New Normal.