The aviation industry’s full, safe recovery from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic may take at least three more years, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) says.
EASA’s European Plan for Aviation Safety (EPAS) 2022‒2026, issued Jan. 17, said the pandemic, while primarily a humanitarian and public health crisis, has had other “unprecedented repercussions” throughout the aviation industry.
“Industry is still faced with a dramatic economic downturn and the path to a full recovery is conditional to a number of variables,” the plan said, adding that recovering while maintaining the industry’s high safety record is a strategic priority under EPAS.
“[T]he aviation system in 2020 and 2021 was not the same as the one which was operating previously, and any perception of what can safely be achieved should be challenged…
