The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted international travel, thus grounding the Canadian aviation industry. The Canadian aviation industry is an integral pillar of Canada’s economy as it contributes more than $35 billion to the nation’s GDP (Veldhuis and Clemens). Moreover, Canada’s aviation industry employs more than 141 000 Canadians, with the majority having been rendered jobless due to the disastrous economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (Hodgson and Schwaen: Ozili, Peterson and Thankom 8). The economic impact of COVID-19 on Canadian airlines is expected to be massive and protracted as it is estimated to take up to five years for demand to return to 2019 levels (Abate, Christidis, and Purwanto 5; Abu-Rayash and Dincer 12). The objective of this research project is to examine the economic impact of COVID-19 on the Canadian aviation industry, particularly on the nation’s airlines. The research project will be guided by the question: what are the economic impacts of COVID-19 on Canada’s aviation industry and their implications for the Canadian economy?
The data source that will be utilized in answering this research question includes various aviation data sets from Statistics Canada, such as https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogue/51-004-X that provides a detailed analysis of the operations of Canadian airlines before and during the COVID-19 pandemic; https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/45-28-0001/2020001/article/00049-eng.htm, which analyzes the Canadian air transport during the COVID-19 period; and https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/200824/dq200824c-eng.htm, which documents the quarterly Canadian civil aviation statistics for the first quarter 2020. The large and evolving data set provides information on various variables of the Canadian aviation industry, such as passengers, employees, and airlines’ total expenditure and income. Using the divergent variables, the real economic impact of COVID-19 on the Canadian aviation industry can be analyzed and used to assess the effect on the nation’s economy.
Works Cited
Abate, Megersa, Panayotis Christidis, and Alloysius Joko Purwanto. “Government support to airlines in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Journal of Air Transport Management (2020): 101931, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2020.101931
Abu-Rayash, Azzam, and Ibrahim Dincer. “Analysis of mobility trends during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic: Exploring the impacts on global aviation and travel in selected cities.” Energy research & social science 68 (2020): 101693, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101693
Hodgson, Glen and Daniel Schwanen. “Looking Beyond Macro-Economic Policies to Address Consequences of COVID-19.” C.D. Howe Institute, 16 Mar. 2020, www.cdhowe.org/intelligence-memos/hodgson-schwanen-looking-beyond-macro-economic-policies-address-consequences
Ozili, Peterson K., and Thankom Arun. “Spillover of COVID-19: Impact on the Global Economy.” Available at SSRN 3562570 (2020).
Veldhuis, Niels and Jason Clemens. “Trudeau Government Wage Subsidy Increases Uncertainty for Workers and Businesses: Op-Ed.” Fraser Institute, 3 Apr. 2020, www.fraserinstitute.org/article/trudeau-government-wage-subsidy-increases-uncertainty-for-workers-and-businesses