EFFECTS OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON AIRLINE COMPANIES AND CREW RESOURCE PLANNING

Authors : Ali Talip AKPINAR, Fatih ALTUNDAL

Pages : 116-125

View : 4 | Download : 7

Publication Date : 2020-12-31

Article Type : Conference Paper

Abstract :The airline industry is constantly growing, highly competitive, and highly affected by the elements of both task and general environment. Before the COVID-19 Pandemic, airlines were making strategic plans for growth based on the number of destinations and flight frequency, taking into account the task and general environmental factors. With the COVID-19 pandemic, flight bans, restrictions, and quarantine practices have been introduced at national and international levels. This has directly negatively affected airline operations, as it has led to a decrease in the number of destinations, a significant proportion of scheduled/non-scheduled flights cannot be made, and low passenger/customer occupancy rates on the aircraft. These changes in the task and general environment due to the Covid-19 pandemic caused to suffer, shrink or even bankrupt for the airline businesses which already have low profit margins and high fixed costs. The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the airline operations and thus the activities of the Crew resource planning department. The department was effected by the Covid-19 pandemic about several issues. Such as the workforce at the publish of the crew’s rosters, training issues, decrease of the crew resource due to quarantined crew, not being able to use the crew optimally due to prolonged cleaning times on the ground, and hotel and ticket reservations difficulties. With the normalization to be achieved by the elimination of the Covid-19 pandemic, airline companies and their crew resource planning departments can stabilize again. Otherwise, a significant portion of the airlines operating in the air transport sector will not be able to survive.
Keywords : Airline, Crew Resource Planning, Pandemic