COVID-19 affected the world and predominantly the aviation industry with a 52.5% drop in all jobs that depended on aviation (Mack et al., 2021). While this article above only discusses the effects of COVID-19 on pilots, it demonstrates the scope of impact that it had and ultimately, without pilots, there is no airline. However, Sobieralski (2020) discusses the various jobs involved in the airline labour force, including cargo and aircraft handling, maintenance personnel, ground crew performing check-in and boarding duties, pilots and cabin crew, and management. Therefore, when COVID-19 hit Australia, it caused many airlines to make a large proportion of these labour staff redundant (Parliament of Australia, n.d.). Due to there being a mass number of employees required for the aviation operation, the effects of COVID-19 were felt by so many.
As the industry recovers, many deficiencies were identified due to the abrupt decisions that were made when COVID-19 hit. For example, many employees training qualifications had expired and were no longer current and many were seeking a more secure job as they became sceptical to whether the industry was going to suffer again (Parliament of Australia, n.d.). This meant the airlines had to spend more money on re-training their employees and ensuring they are all compliant. With that said, it is a steady and time-consuming process which means that as the industry begins again, there is a shortage of airline labour staff due to the necessary training that they all have to undertake.
Furthermore, COVID-19 now caused all employees involved in the airline labour force, to experience job instability as they were unsure if they were going to be redundant again, or whether the hours were going to get cut (Han et al., 2021). This would have put a lot of stress on many families as they decide whether to continue in the aviation industry or pursue something more stable.
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