COVID-19 News Roundup

Tracking the impact of the pandemic on travel

COVID-19 News Roundup

When the pandemic was first declared in March 2020, ATPCO understood the value of keeping track of industry-related news in the quickly changing environment. We tracked aviation news and developments from the start of the pandemic through December 2020. This page is no longer updated but remains a source for looking back on the events our industry weathered during our toughest times. We are now looking forward to recovery and a post-recovery world.

   
Region Date Organization Summary
EMEA 17 Apr 2020 Lufthansa No Austrian Airlines scheduled services until at least mid-May
EMEA 01 Jul 2020 El Al No El Al Flights Until Further Notice
EMEA 06 Oct 2020 Lufthansa No new pilots needed for ‘very long time’: Lufthansa training arm
EMEA 24 Apr 2020 Government Norway Approves New Law That Could Help Rescue Norwegian Air
EMEA 24 Apr 2020 Norwegian Air Norway Approves New Law That Could Help Rescue Norwegian Air
EMEA 15 May 2020 Government Norway likely to keep travel restrictions until Aug 20
EMEA 29 May 2020 Government Norway to extend airline loan guarantee scheme
EMEA 27 Mar 2020 Norwegian Air Norwegian Air asks creditors to forego payments for 3 months
EMEA 09 Jun 2020 Norwegian Air Norwegian Air seeks approval to raise cash quickly if needed
EMEA 09 Apr 2020 Norwegian Air Norwegian Air seeks debt restructuring to stay in business
EMEA 04 May 2020 Norwegian Air Norwegian Air shareholders back £770m rescue plan
EMEA 18 May 2020 Norwegian Air Norwegian Air to Sell New Shares as First Step Towards State Aid
Europe 16 Nov 2020 Norwegian Air Norwegian Air’s Future on Thin Ice as Government Declines More Aid
Europe 23 Nov 2020 Norwegian Air Norwegian Air’s Luck Runs Out, Files for Bankruptcy in Ireland
EMEA 24 Mar 2020 Norwegian Air Norwegian Begins To Receive Government Rescue Package
EMEA 13 Jul 2020 Norwegian Air Norwegian Eyes December Return To Long-Haul Flying
Europe 09 Nov 2020 Norwegian Air Norwegian Facing An Uncertain Future: Lack Of Government Support
EMEA 21 Sep 2020 Norwegian Air Norwegian Receives A Loan Guarantee Extension From Norway’s Government
Europe 07 Dec 2020 Norwegian Air Norwegian Records 96% Capacity Drop In November As It Looks To Christmas
Global 15 Apr 2020 Industry OAG: Airline Capacity Cuts Slowed, But Recovery Start At Least a Month Away
Global 03 Aug 2020 Industry OAG: Airline Capacity Recovery Crosses 50 Percent Mark
Global 10 Aug 2020 Industry OAG: Capacity Dip This Week Could Indicate Capacity Peak Reached
Global 13 Jul 2020 Industry OAG: Global Air Capacity Crosses 50M Seat Threshold This Week
Global 26 May 2020 Industry OAG: Global Airline Capacity Down Slightly This Week
Global 08 Jun 2020 Industry OAG: Global Airline Capacity Slightly Increases This Week
Global 27 Jul 2020 Industry OAG: Global Capacity Up But Likely to Plateau
Global 20 Apr 2020 Industry OAG: Global Weekly Air Capacity Drops Below 30 Million Seats
Global 20 Jul 2020 Industry OAG: Northeast Asia, Western Europe Lead Weekly Capacity Growth
Global 04 May 2020 Industry OAG: Overall Global Air Capacity Drops Despite Regional Increases
Global 22 Jun 2020 Industry OAG: Weekly Air Capacity Grows in North America But Holds Worldwide
EMEA 27 May 2020 Oman Air Oman Air Becomes Latest To Adopt Full Body PPE For Crew
EMEA 09 Sep 2020 Oman Air Oman Air to resume scheduled flights from October
Global 22 Apr 2020 Industry Once Boiling, NDC Development And Deployments Now Simmer
Multiple 16 Nov 2020 COVID-19 One bright spot in Covid-era travel: On-time flights
Global 20 Mar 2020 COVID-19 Oneworld, SkyTeam and Star Alliance join forces to seek support from governments amid coronavirus crisis
Global 12 Aug 2020 Industry Only 7% Of The World’s Airbus A380s Are Currently Operational
Global 24 Apr 2020 Industry Over 100 million jobs losses in the Travel & Tourism sector and alerts G20 countries to the scale of the crisis
North America 20 Mar 2020 Air Canada Over 5,000 layoffs
Global 20 Mar 2020 COVID-19 Oxford Economics predicts rapid economic recovery post-Covid-19
APAC 23 Mar 2020 Industry Pacific Islands Are Losing All Air Services Amid Route Suspensions
Latin America 18 Oct 2020 Government Panama offers COVID-19 tests to international travelers
Latin America 21 Aug 2020 Government Panama suspends international flights for another month
Latin America 27 Apr 2020 COPA Panama's Copa Airlines warns it may lack the cash to keep operations afloat
EMEA 14 Oct 2020 Government Pandemic Delays Israel-UAE Direct Flights Until 2021
APAC 03 Aug 2020 Government Pandemic’s second wave: risk to Japanese domestic aviation revival
APAC 29 Apr 2020 IATA Passenger Demand Plunges in March as Travel Restrictions Take Hold
APAC 21 Jul 2020 Government Passengers Now Need a Negative Covid Test Certificate Before Flying to China
APAC 26 Apr 2020 Philippine Airlines Philippine Airlines suspends all services until 15-May-2020
EMEA 06 Jul 2020 British Airways Pilots' union has reached outline deal with British Airways in fight to save jobs
North America 24 Mar 2020 Industry Plans to virtually shut down U.S. passenger flights are in the works