Unquestionably, the pandemic has resulted in aviation’s biggest ever peacetime crisis. From aircraft manufacturers to airlines, from maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) to supply and service organisations, aviation has been hit extremely hard by Covid-19.
The immense challenges, including enterprise survival, have forced aviation to adapt on an unprecedented scale to meet customers’ ever-changing requirements. And significantly, the sector continues to play an absolutely critical role in fighting the pandemic.
Let’s set the scene on some of the technical fronts, what the situation is now and where things are likely to be heading.
For starters, aircraft have still had to be maintained during the pandemic – passengers stopped flying for the most part, but cargo has most definitely not. In parallel, digitisation and sustainability are two compelling factors that are carrying aviation forwards, both boosted by pandemic effects.
In time, we may or may...