Abstract COVID-19 pandemic starting in early 2020 has greatly impacted human and industrial activities. Air transport in China shrank abruptly in February 2020, following a year-long gradual recovery. The airline companies reacted to this unprecedented event by dramatically reducing the flight volume and rearranging the aircraft types. As the first major economy that successfully controls the spread of COVID-19, China can provide a unique opportunity to quantify the medium-long impacts on the air transport industry. To quantify the corresponding changes and to elucidate the effects of COVID-19 in the wake of two major outbreaks centered in Wuhan and Beijing, we analyze twelve flight routes formed by four selected airports, using the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data in 2019 and 2020. Our results show that the total flight volume in 2020 reduced to 67.8% of 2019 in China. The recovering time of flight volume was about 2–6 months, dependent on the severity. In order to unwind the severe challenge, airlines mainly relied on aircraft B738 and A321 between February and June in 2020 because the fuel consumption per seat of these two aircraft types is the lowest. Besides, fuel consumption and aircraft emissions are calculated according to the Base of Aircraft Data (BADA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization's Engine Emissions Databank (ICAO's EEDB). At the end of 2020, the ratios of daily fuel consumption and aircraft emissions of 2020 to 2019 rebounded to about 0.875, suggesting the domestic commercial flights were nearly fully recovered. Our results may provide practical guidance and meaningful expectation for commercial aircraft management for other countries.

    Highlights Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on medium and long-term air travel demand: The total flight volume ratio of 2020 to 2019 is 0.678. In the second half-year of 2020, flight volume in some flight routes exceeded the values in 2019. Impacts on airlines' financial performance: Airlines switched to smaller aircraft for flight plans to improve financial performance in response to the reduced number of passengers. Long-term impacts on the environment and sustainability: The daily fuel consumption and aircraft emissions have been increasing since the second quarter of 2020. The ratio of 2020 to 2019 in the fourth quarter is 0.875. Sustainability and resilience of air transportation systems: It took 2–6 months for flight volume to recover in China, dependent on the severity.


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    Title :

    Impacts of COVID-19 on aircraft usage and fuel consumption: A case study on four Chinese international airports


    Contributors:
    Xue, Dabin (author) / Liu, Zhizhao (author) / Wang, Bing (author) / Yang, Jian (author)


    Publication date :

    2021-06-25




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




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