Title: Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on an aviation company: change management approach

Authors: Ilona Skačkauskienė; Virginija Leonavičiūtė; Agnė Sakalauskė

Addresses: Department of Management, Faculty of Business Management, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Saulėtekio Ave. 11, LT-10223, Vilnius, Lithuania ' Department of Management, Faculty of Business Management, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Saulėtekio Ave. 11, LT-10223, Vilnius, Lithuania ' Department of Management, Faculty of Business Management, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Saulėtekio Ave. 11, LT-10223, Vilnius, Lithuania

Abstract: Aviation is one of the most severely affected global industries by the COVID-19 pandemic, including passenger traffic, airport workforce, and operational processes: the total number of seats offered by airlines in 2020 decreased by about 50%, the number of passengers fell by about 60%, and this resulted in an estimated 371 billion USD loss in 2020 and 324 billion USD loss in 2021. Aviation industry organisations, including Lithuanian Airports, had to urgently adapt their operations and use the new opportunities to overcome the COVID-19 crisis and maintain a competitive advantage. In order to find out what measures have been taken to stabilise the situation, the empirical evaluation was conducted using methods of case study, statistical data analysis, content analysis and semi-structured interviews. The research results suggest that many obstacles to successful change and adaptation in the aviation sector can be overcome by the ability to respond quickly to changes in the external environment: several recovery scenarios, based on business best practices and examples, prepared in advance, enabled Lithuanian Airports to restore business operations.

Keywords: airports; aviation industry; case study; crisis management; organisational changes; pandemic.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLC.2024.137494

International Journal of Learning and Change, 2024 Vol.16 No.2/3, pp.206 - 219

Received: 15 Sep 2022
Accepted: 21 Feb 2023
Published online: 21 Mar 2024 *

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