Impacts of COVID-19 on Air Traffic Control and Air Traffic Management: A Review

Abstract

The global air transportation system continues to be greatly impacted by operational changes induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. As air traffic management (ATM) focuses on balancing system capacity with demand, many facets of ATM and system operations more broadly were subjected to dramatic changes that deviate from pre-pandemic procedures. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when air travel became one of the first transport modes to be impacted by lockdown procedures and travel restrictions, a geographically diverse cohort of researchers began investigating the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on air navigation service providers, airline and airport operations, on-time performance, as well as airline network structure, connectivity, crew scheduling, and service impacts due to pilot and crew shortages. In this study, we provide a comprehensive review of this aforementioned body of research literature published during one of the most tumultuous times in the history of aviation, specifically as it relates to air traffic management and air traffic control. We first organize the reviewed literature into three broad categories: strategic air traffic management and response, air traffic control and airport operational changes, and air traffic system resilience. Then, we highlight the main takeaways from each category. We emphasize specific findings that describe how various aspects of the air transportation systems could be improved in the domestic and global airline industry post-COVID. Lastly, we identify specific changes in operational procedures due to the COVID-19 pandemic and suggest future industry trends as informed by the literature. We anticipate this review article to be of interest to a broad swath of aviation industry and intercity transportation audiences.