Assessing Covid-19 impacts on Aviation

The COVID-19 pandemic has had unprecedented impacts across all sectors of the economy. This is particularly evident in the aviation sector, with visible impacts ranging from the global to the local scale. Loss of passengers and disruption to supply chains have led to a substantive loss in income. Local Authorities (LA) serving airports are therefore likely to be particularly affected by COVID-19 due to the prominence of aviation dependent business and employment within their boundaries.

To produce policy responses to address the particular issues faced by LAs serving airports, such as changing employment structure, the impacts of the crisis need to be quantified and future potential recovery scenarios modelled.

In partnership with the Midlands Engine, SASIG (Strategic Aviation Special Interest Group of the Local Government Association) is conducting a study to assess the impacts of the recent downturn in aviation activity on those economies and communities.

Short, medium and longer-term impacts will be identified in order to support representations to Government for support for LA finances and the mitigation/recovery of lost aviation activity at airports, as well as the supply chains and air dependent sectors they support.