DWG
ACCESS: Top Secret
- Joined
- 11 February 2007
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Inside the airline industry's meltdown
The long read: Coronavirus has hit few sectors harder than air travel, wiping out tens of thousands of jobs and uncountable billions in revenue. While most fleets were grounded, the industry was forced to reimagine its future
Interesting Guardian Long Read article, with some good access into KLM's management in particular, and Richard Aboulafia postulating on potential changes to the entire airline business model.
The bird found trying to nest in an APU is a warning of the kind of issue that may be lurking for when aircraft need to be reactivated. KLM were apparently 3D-printing covers for static ports, but will everyone have gone down to that level of detail? And will they remember to take them all off again? And there's non-obvious stuff like potentially needing to fly inactive aircraft south for the winter, and covering one of the runways at Amsterdam in steel plates to spread the weight of the parked aircraft.
