Hong Kong, May 14 -- It is going to be a long haul. Read More That has become certain as the devastating damage of the COVID-19 pandemic being done to the global aviation industry and economy becomes evident.
February and March were bad. April and May are forecast to be worse. Not only are Asia-Pacific airline fleets and those elsewhere in the world grounded, airports are closing terminals and runways and aircraft manufacturers are cutting production rates by a minimum of 30%. And they had no choice.
Many of their thousands of suppliers have closed shop, unable to supply the required parts to build jets. All are furloughing thousands of staff. Asia-Pacific LCCs, which have ordered hundreds of single-aisle jets, are likely to be among the ...