87% of Industry Professionals Say Aviation Was Not Prepared For COVID-19

Just 13 percent of the more than 500 aviation professionals surveyed between April and June believe the industry was well prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey by Inmarsat Aviation and the Airline Passenger Experience Association.  In addition, 60 percent of the respondents believe that industry recovery will take between 18 months and three years. 

Inmarsat Vice President Dominic Walters said, “The FlightPlan survey is a first in terms of scale and breadth to shine a light on opinions about the COVID-19 recovery phase and includes the views from more than 500 professionals across the aviation industry.” 

Numerous airline executives have said that domestic travel is likely to rebound faster than international due to the uncertainty around border restrictions, quarantines and second outbreaks around the world.  FlightPlan’s survey showed that 85 percent of respondents agree.

One of the most surprising results of the survey was that 70 percent of the respondents believe that business travel would recover faster than leisure travel.  This is in contrast with the public statements of a number of airline executives who have said that leisure travel will come before business travel.

The global pandemic has forced airlines to rethink their operations, and 88 percent of respondents believe deeper cleaning, decontamination and restoring passenger confidence have changed their priorities.