Chapter 12: Development of Global Policies for the Air Transport Industry

The global COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the interconnectivity and interdependence of the modern world economy and international society’s epidemiological vulnerability to the global transmission of human infectious diseases by air travel. The rapid formulation of new pandemic policy responses for the air transport industry at both a national and international level revealed complex tensions between mandatory ‘stay-at-home’ public health interventions and international travel restrictions, which were designed to limit the virus’s spread but which dramatically disrupted everyday social activities, and political and economic imperatives to reopen global air travel as quickly as possible. The aim of this chapter is to examine the development of global policies for the air transport industry from the perspective of aviation public health policy, airline passengers, air freight and financial support for airline and airport operators.