Table of Contents
Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic started in early 2020 in China and quickly spread throughout the world. This pandemic drastically changed how people went about their daily lives and how businesses operated. The impact of the pandemic was unprecedented, and it was felt by all sectors all over the world. In addition to the pandemic’s impact on public health, economic disruptions caused by COVID-19 created havoc among businesses, with many forced to either close down or change how they conduct their business. The pandemic ended up affecting economies and global labor markets, including the global supply chains. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected how businesses operate globally, and these businesses have had to adapt to the uncertainty of the pandemic to remain in business.
Impact of COVID-19 on business
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an unprecedented shock in businesses globally. The pandemic threatened all the gains that countries had made to reduce poverty and increase the livelihood of citizens. The pandemic’s impact on businesses had short-term and long-term effects (Christine et al., 2020). Businesses were abruptly faced with changing consumer demands, different consumer patterns, and general consumer behavior. Businesses, therefore, had to abandon their standard ways of operation and adapt to the changing business landscape. The restrictions to the movement of people due to lockdowns, the higher cost of doing business and the destruction of global supply chains significantly impacted businesses. The pandemic caused many businesses to close as the authorities ordered people to isolate themselves to reduce the spread of the virus.
With the disruptions to the global supply chain and national lockdowns, production and demand have taken a hit (Meyer et al., 2020). The governments’ mandated lockdowns significantly reduced the workforce’s productivity. The businesses were forced to either reduce the workers to comply with social distancing protocols or send the workers home and cease business. The workers being forced to stay at home, in turn, affected the consumer spending power, and this reduced the demand as many people did not have the income to buy goods.
Impact of COVID-19 on Delta
The COVID-19 pandemic affected almost all industries globally, but few were affected as much as the global airline industry. Due to the travel restrictions imposed by the governments and general unease among the consumers, most airlines were forced to ground their airplanes as the demand dried up. Many airlines struggled to fill airplane seats to make them sustainable businesses (Maneenop & Kotcharin, 2020). With the pandemic’s impact on the industry, the airlines had to adapt to continue staying in business. Many planes modified their passenger planes and changed them to cargo planes. The demand for cargo planes had increased as vaccines and other essential goods needed to be transported globally in the least amount of time. The airlines also had to fill in for some of the cargo ships that had been stranded.
Delta Airlines modified its passenger airplanes to transport the COVID-19 vaccine and other essential items (Writer, 2020). There was a massive drop in the number of passengers as the lockdown made it impossible for passengers to travel. Delta Airlines was therefore forced to ground most of the passenger planes. The airlines also reduced the number of workers and accepted a bailout to avoid bankruptcy. However, the surge in demand for cargo planes forced Delta Airlines to change its business model. The airline had to equip these cargo planes with the necessary refrigeration facilities that were required to transport the vaccines over long distances. The focus on cargo transportation enabled the airline to start using the airplanes that had been grounded. This had a twofold impact, the airline was able to maintain a consistent stream of income to cover for the decline in passenger income. The airline was also able to revive the grounded airplanes, which made the maintenance cost on the company lower as the cost of maintaining a grounded airplane is higher than maintaining an airplane in service. Delta Airlines was one of the most affected businesses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the company shifted and adapted to the changing times, and this enabled the company to overcome the pandemic challenges.
Conclusion
The COVID-19 pandemic changed the business landscape. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic was unprecedented and was felt by all industries all over the world. The economic disruptions threatened the livelihoods of billions of people and many companies. To remain in business, businesses were forced to adapt to the changing business landscape. The airline industry was one of the most affected industries, with many airlines losing their main source of income as passengers could not fly. The airlines pivoted their business to transporting cargo as the demand for cargo planes increased. The airlines and other businesses were significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, businesses had to adapt to the change to remain in business.
- Christine, M., Besart, A.-A., Cirera, A., Cruz, M., Davies, E., Grover, A., Iacovone, L., Kilinc, U., Medvedev, D., Maduko, F., Poupakis, S., Torres, J., & Tran, T. (2020). Unmasking the Impact of COVID-19 on Businesses Firm Level Evidence from Across the World.
- Maneenop, S., & Kotcharin, S. (2020). The impacts of COVID-19 on the global airline industry:An event study approach. Journal of Air Transport Management, 89(101920). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2020.101920
- Meyer, B., Sheng, X., & Prescott, B. (2020). Please address questions regarding content to The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Business Expectations. https://doi.org/10.29338/wp2020-17a
- Writer, S. (2020, December 16). Delta delivers COVID-19 vaccine shipments as part of global effort to beat pandemic. Delta News Hub. https://news.delta.com/delta-delivers-covid-19-vaccine-shipments-part-global-effort-beat-pandemic