Analysis of Factors Affecting the Sustainable Success of Airlines During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic increased the risk of financial distress, bankruptcy, or both, in the airline industry. Whether airlines can survive or not during and/or after the pandemic is closely related to their decisions and actions which will enable their success by increasing their resilience. In crisis periods such as COVID-19, the decisions taken by airlines are strategically important for achieving sustainable success. Thus, it is critical to understand which factors are more important for airlines to shape their actions and make correct decisions. This paper investigates the sustainable success factors on which airlines should focus to provide resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. It provides a robust model using the interval type-2 fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (IT2FAHP) and interval type-2 fuzzy Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (IT2FDEMATEL) to identify and rank success factors. The findings indicate that financial and operational factors are extremely important to ensure resilience for airlines. In addition, the results of the study reveal that operational factors and information sharing factors have an impact on financial factors and customer satisfaction. © National Academy of Sciences: Transportation Research Board 2021.

What are airlines' possible strategic responses to overcome unexpected catastrophic events post COVID-19?

Events that deeply affect the world and the airline industry, such as terrorist attacks or disease outbreaks, are expressed as unexpected events since they are not predicted or desired events. The responses employed by airlines are of great importance for the future of airline companies for their survival. In this context, this study aims to reveal a strategic response repertoire that airlines can employ to sustain their existence in case of facing an unexpected events for the post-Covid-19 era. Studies on strategic responses during unexpected events were collected from WoS and Sciencedirect databases. These studies were analyzed and discussed under the themes of preparedness/resilience efforts, resume, exit, adaptation, and action, determined by the authors. The study is expected to guide airline companies on how to respond to various unexpected events post-Covid-19 period. © 2023, IGI Global. All rights reserved.