

Breaking down the global aviation value chain by subsector Fiscal year 2021 data are not yet available for all the companies covered in this analysis, so this article draws insights mostly from the 2012–20 data, supplemented by observations of key developments in 2021.

The second article explores what airline executives could consider doing to generate more value for their carriers-for instance, examining their cost base and accelerating capital turnover. This article, the first in a two-part series, provides an overview of global aviation’s performance during the pandemic, by subsector. Although the temptation is to pin the blame solely on the pandemic-induced plunge in passenger traffic, that would be to ignore the airline industry’s underlying and long-term health problems. The COVID-19 pandemic is entering its endemic stages in some parts of the world at the time of writing, and airlines hemorrhaged $168 billion in economic losses in 2020.
