Airlines Operation Strategy After The COVID-19 Pandemic: A Conceptual Model

Abstract

∗The COVID-19 pandemic has caused demand for flight services to drop dramatically and caused a decline in commercial flight services in the world. Many airlines were suspending their flight operation several months after the outbreak. To survive, many airlines respond by postponing new aircraft delivery, grounding their aircraft, and even reducing their fleet. When the world is recovering from the pandemic event, airlines must prepare for a return to operation. Grounded aircraft, financial issues, and air travel uncertainty made the process itself a complex dynamic system. Those complexity is interfering with the airline objective for returning into operation. This paper aims to understand and analyze the complexity of the airline return to operation process. For this purpose, the study develops a conceptual using the causal loop diagram. It is further visualized through a system diagram to illustrate the airline return to operation problem comprehensively. This study's result can be used as the basis for developing several scenarios and policy interventions that can affect the process's objective.