CRISIS
December 31, 2019
Cases of pneumonia detected in Wuhan, China, are first reported to WHO.
January 9
January 11
January 13
January 23
Chinese officials announce a coronavirus outbreak, with 44 cases confirmed.
Chinese officials announce first death caused by the virus.
First recorded coronavirus case outside China is in Thailand.
Wuhan is locked down. Major travel restrictions are put in place.
Aftersh How has the airline industry recovered from mass disruptions in the past?
T
he coronavirus crisis came without notice. On January 9, Chinese officials announced the outbreak, with 44 confirmed cases and counting. The first major travel restriction came into effect in China two weeks later. On January 23, 15,072 flights carried passengers to the country in time for Lunar New Year, the world’s busiest travel rush, as cases climbed past 570 and a total shutdown of Wuhan, the center of the outbreak, was imposed. By February 13, daily flights had dropped to around 2,000 as more lockdowns were enforced and international airlines canceled trips
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to mainland China. On flights that did operate, magazines, pillows, hot meals and trolley service gradually disappeared. By the time Wuhan’s 76-day lockdown was lifted on April 7, China experienced an air traffic disruption at least 15 times greater than the two-day closure of US airspace during 9/11. Worldwide, there were just 32,221 passenger jets left in the sky. Global coronavirus cases soared above two million the following week, and the airline industry as a whole was on pace to shoulder the adjusted economic impact of more than 30 SARS outbreaks by the end of the year. Economists projected the overall financial
shock of COVID-19 would be three times greater than the steepest downturn of the 2008 global financial crisis. “We have never shuttered the industry on this scale before,” said Alexandre de Juniac, director general and CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), during an April briefing. “Consequently, we have no experience in starting it up.” There’s no single past event that provides a roadmap for recovery from this pandemic. But a combined understanding of lessons learned after 9/11, SARS and other shock events will help chart a way forward.
PHOTOS: UNSPLASH
BY KATIE SEHL
