Air transportation and COVID-19: A tale with three episodes

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the extreme vulnerability of our aviation system towards external disruptions. While there have been several earlier aviation-related crises, the impact of COVID-19 is unmatched in the history of modern aviation. Accordingly, a better understanding of the mechanisms and ramifications of this pandemic is instrumental for preparing towards future external disruptions. The contribution of our study is threefold. First, we dissect the disruptive impact of the pandemic on the scientific literature and extract the major trends and insights. Given the wide range of related venues and the extent of disruption, there have been many studies published in the last 2–3 years. Second, we perform a data-driven analysis of the full disruption cycle containing three episodes, starting with the epidemic shock early in the year 2020, over the pandemic stalemate, towards the endemic-induced recovery in the year 2022. Third, we summarize the major insights and derive a set of policy recommendations and future research directions which we consider essential on the way towards what we call pandemic-resilient aviation.