COVID-19
Aviation Kit

Download your aviation kit now to get crucial advice on how to manage your airline during the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Download your Aviation Kit

About the Aviation Kit

Get tips on how to navigate your way through the global tourism crisis

Know what to expect and how to prepare for the return of travel

Get advice for the human resource issues you might be facing

Learn about the legal issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic

Managing aviation and airport services during the COVID-19 crisis

As Destination Management Organization’s (DMO) and tourism ministries work to develop recovery strategies and revive hospitality and ground handling operations, the aviation sector remains a more daunting challenge, as it brings DMO’s into a shared area of concern with health and transportation authorities, whose agenda may be more cautious and less inclined towards reopening. The aviation business represents a core sector of the travel and tourism industry throughout the world, with individual airlines accounting for nearly $2.6 trillion, or 3.6%, of the global gross domestic product, and are the key driver for international travel and tourism. However, evidence shows aviation was a key driver of virus transmission, and the closure of borders and shut down of aviation played a critical role in the slowing and potential halting of the transmission of COVID-19.

The shutdown of aviation creates a major challenge for DMOs and Tourism authorities. While financial stimulus and reopening protocols for future travel can be developed for hospitality businesses and even potentially domestic aviation, the reality is that international aviation is not enabled or managed in isolation, but only through establishing protocols to open borders, process travel and control immigration, and agreeing on these protocols in partnership with source destinations.

Reopening is no easy feat and is emerging as one of the major challenges for COVID-19 recovery. We have seen the emergence of bi-lateral travel agreements in which countries make formal agreements to open flights between their borders. These have been branded travel bubbles or air bridges, but what these represent is severe limitations of the first phase of recovery and an emergence of a much more strictly controlled aviation sector that is likely to become smaller and more regulated.

There are no perfect solutions and the process of reopening routes and the aviation sector is likely to be slow and will be to a large extent beyond the control of any DMO, and will be contingent on health and immigration agreements. Such agreements are at odds with the aviation industry, which has been effectively grounded for months and are increasingly reaching their financial limits and seeking emergency funding to avoid bankruptcy.

DMOs must seek partnerships and a place in policy negotiations to create bi-lateral travel agreements while providing direct fiscal, operational, and legal support to aviation businesses and as flights restart should use cooperative marketing to create actionable and sustainable plans for recovery.

This kit is designed for Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) to work with the aviation sector during the COVID-19 crisis to bring back flights progressively and restart international travel.

Checklist for Supporting your Aviation Sector

Download the Aviation Kit above and receive a printable checklist.

  • Use participatory forums and research to identify and meet the needs of the aviation sector in response to COVID-19.
  • Ensure that financial support and stimulus packages are focused on airlines, routes and markets that have a high propensity to resume travel and can deliver carrying capacity and that legal frameworks exist to protect both the sector and passengers.
  • Support domestic aviation as a key driver of first phase travel.
  • Take a guiding active role in discussions and negotiations for creating bi-laterally agreed aviation access and opening of authorized travel, and ensure the tourism sector is a key consideration as new policies are formed.
  • Ensure that new globally approved protocols for management of aviation and airports are planned, funded and implemented to enable resumption of flights.
  • Plan cooperative marketing with returning airlines to ensure that carry capacity is maximized, passengers are reassured and confident of safety and aim to expand load and frequency.

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