Grounded aircraft: an airfield operations perspective of the challenges of resuming flights post COVID

The global COVID pandemic, national lockdowns and unprecedented decline in passenger demand worldwide has led to airlines cancelling services, furloughing staff, applying for financial support and placing aircraft into temporary storage. However, with finite space available, and up to two-thirds of the world’s total passenger fleet grounded for an indeterminate period of time, airlines have been forced to park their aircraft in unusual places, sometimes at airports they do not normally serve and in volumes never normally experienced. The aim of this paper is to investigate the extent of grounded aircraft at UK airports and explore the challenges, from an airfield operations perspective, of resuming flights post-COVID.