Crises have wracked the airline industry almost since its inception. Wars, diseases, economic recessions and depressions, jet fuel price spikes — the list is almost endless and illustrates an industry almost uniquely prone to exogenous shocks. The Covid-19 pandemic started as a crisis like no other, affecting airlines in every corner of the world. A "pancession," as we called it in an Airline Weekly issue. And almost two years in, the pandemic is proving its difference in a new way.
