The effect of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on air transport

Abstract

On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) outbreak a pandemic. The air transport sector has remained one of the hardest-hit global industries since the outbreak pandemic. Since the COVID-19 outbreak started, the number of infected cases reached 198,074,040 on 31 July 2021 and 4,225,437 people have died worldwide due to this Novel Coronavirus Disease. The strict travel ban restrictions to reduce the spreading of disease further amplified the reduction of air passenger demand and resulted in a large number of flight cancellations. The method used in this study is a literature review. Based on International Civil Aviation Organization in 2021, the effect of novel coronavirus disease pandemic on world scheduled passenger traffic for the year 2020, compared to 2019 levels are reduction of 50 % of seats offered by airlines, reduction of 2,699 million passengers (decreased 60 %), and approximately USD 371 billion loss of gross passenger operating revenues of airlines. The International Air Transport Association expressed an overall reduction of 48 % in terms of Revenue-Passenger Kilometres and 55 % in passenger revenues for 2020. The highest decrease in the number of passengers carried occurred in Asia and the Pacific region by 921 million people, followed by the European region by 769 million people and the North America region by 599 million people. Furthermore, the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on air transport in Indonesia, the number of air transport passengers in 2020 was recorded at 32.711 million people. This number decreased 57.76 % year on year from 2019 which was 76.69 million people. The COVID-19 pandemic has indeed limited people's mobility and made the air transportation sector the hardest hit. The actual impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic depend on the duration and magnitude of the outbreak and preventive measures, the consumer confidence degree for air travel, and economic conditions.