Impact of COVID-19 on the Global Network of Airports
Airports have grown in number, size and function in the recent past, leading to vast economic spinoffs to many communities. They are critical global nodes that link the world and facilitate economic development. In 2020, the global aviation industry was b
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Impact of COVID-19 on the Global Network of Airports
Abstract Airports have grown in number, size and function in the recent past, leading to vast economic spinoffs to many communities. They are critical global nodes that link the world and facilitate economic development. In 2020, the global aviation industry was brought to a near standstill by the COVID-19 pandemic, with devastating global economic and associated impacts. This study evaluated the impact of COVID-19 on the airports’ sector. Using archival and secondary data from authoritative sources such as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), EUROCONTROL and Flightradar24, it emerged that COVID-19 had a negative impact on airport operations mainly affecting their revenue streams. Travel restrictions and border closures had a debilitating impact on the airports and the aviation component of the tourism industry. With airlines grounded, the airports converted into parking lots and ghost towns. With this, there were drastic declines in receipt in landing, departure fees and non-aeronautical revenue. The remaining limited operations that continued in many airports related to service and facilitate the delivery of medical and other essential supplies, including food and critical raw materials. These could not raise adequate revenues to sustain many airports. Globally, the closure of airports also affected more than 6 million people directly employed in these airport-related services, including shops, car rental companies, airport restaurants and that of air navigation systems. The study recommends that the same support offered to the aviation industry in the form of grants, tax exemptions, preferential loans and so on be extended to airports. Airports play a central role in the global economy, tourism economy and future recovery efforts. Keywords Airport · Shopping · COVID-19 · Economic impact · Aviation relief · Disease control
5.1 Introduction Airports have witnessed increased use and function over the past decades. This is as a result of increased global air traffic mainly driven by increased levels of tourism development. Besides acting as important transport nodes in the past, airports have
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 G. Nhamo et al., Counting the Cost of COVID-19 on the Global Tourism Industry, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56231-1_5
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5 Impact of COVID-19 on the Global Network of Airports
become economic hubs offering additional services, including shopping malls, car rental facilities, conference facilities, lodging and logistics for exports and imports. Evidence shows that airports are large cities with multiple functions. A record of 8.8 billion travellers passed through the world’s airports in 2018, marking a 6.4% increase from the previous year (International Airport Review 2019). This showed that there was an increased demand for air travel. Indications were that trend was likely to continue in the foreseeable future as the deman
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