Plane & Pilot Exclusive: Pilots And Other Aviation Workers Share How Coronavirus Threat Is Affecting Their Jobs

One customer service representative for a national FBO chain said that the effects have been dramatic in a bad way, citing a "company-wide hiring freeze, cutting expenses, minimizing overtime, restructuring the budget for the rest of the year (supposedly), and repeated memos on symptoms, how to stay healthy, and new sanitizing procedures we have to ramp up. Sounds like transient traffic to bases in coastal states is way down." One line-service FBO employee noted that the company had seen one arrival at the otherwise busy airport in the last eight-hour shift. In contrast, another FBO rep said that there had been a marked uptick in business.

A flight instructor at one school cited dire effects, writing, "My flight school is closed, as of yesterday, for a minimum of two weeks. There are only four main instructors there, [three of them] in their 60s & 70s." The closure, the writer suggested, was likely "in consideration for the higher risk the disease poses to the older instructors and students," but still bemoaned the closure, as "this is my primary income, [though] I wouldn't want to put them at risk either!"

Another instructor has had a completely different experience, saying that "Flight instruction is going strong here," and noting that, "honestly, we've had worse from the weather than anything COVID-related."

The closure of other businesses and public institutions has had an effect on companies, as well. One worker in a paint shop mentioned that a lot of his colleagues had to bring their kids to work when public schools and private day care facilities closed due to the virus. On the other hand, business, she wrote, hadn't declined at all.

The need for emergency-related flying has boosted business in other sectors. A pilot for a cargo carrier said that business was brisk. "Cargo side is on the up and up! We have seen an increase in overall demand and percentage of loads. One of our pilots wears a mask and gloves since the cargo he picks up literally comes straight from [another company] in China. Most of our operation is single pilot so less chance of infection, which makes social distancing not really a factor."

A couple of other repair shop personnel reported that business hadn't been affected at all. "We fix GA planes and aerobatic planes," they wrote. "Lots of annuals due and lots of people."

One respondent operates a charter helicopter company in Alaska, noting that her business is "fairly seasonal, though we are still open in the winter, mostly for telecommunications support. All my cruise ship business for this summer has been cancelled through June at least. I'm anticipating a very slow summer, so I'm running with a skeleton crew. I have four helicopters and only two pilots plus me. I had to tell my newest hired pilots to stand down. It's really hard to know how it's gonna play out. It will be a devastating financial hit too, and not sure I'll make it through."

*Note: Plane & Pilot polled dozens of aerospace workers in a variety of fields to find out what those people on the front lines of aviation were seeing. We haven't shared names or companies because many of the respondents were not authorized by their companies to comment on the situation.

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