COVID-19 and aeronautics industry. 10 Probable Critical Scenarios

Abstract

The Spanish Royal Academy of Language defines “crisis”, in its first sense, as a profound change with important consequences in a process or situation, or in the way in which they are assessed. The pandemic engendered by the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, has impacted on multiple scenarios at multiple scales. The aeronautical industry, which by definition encompasses not only air transport but also all the facilities, services and processes associated with it, including the construction and maintenance of aircraft, has been one of the activities affected by the global pandemic. The present work aims to describe at least ten of those critical situations, at their different scales (global, regional and local). The length of time covered by the present work extends to July 2020. Paying attention on its nature, this is an exploratory and descriptive research. Taking these scales into account, this article focuses on the analysis of the measures taken by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) at a global level, by the European Union (EU) and by the Latin American Civil Aviation Commission (CLAAC) at the regional level and, at the local level, by a selected group of States.