More than half of the airline pilots in the world are currently not flying for a living, according to the first worldwide survey of the profession since the Covid-19 crisis.

Breaking Travel News hears from Peter Baumgartner, aviation analyst and current chairman of Metrocore Aviation Group, about the likely lasting impact of the Covid-19 pandemic

United States-based airlines have secured as much as US$25 billion in payroll support from the federal government. The funds are part of a US$2 trillion relief package signed by Congress in response to the unprecedented economic damage caused the coronavirus pandemic.

Some 86 accidents involving large passenger aircraft were recorded in 2019, according to new analysis from aviation consultants To70. Of these, eight were fatal, with the loss of 257 lives – a fall of nearly 50 per cent.

Which? are warning airlines that they are at risk of breaking consumer law by imposing rip-off ‘no show’ clauses. Some carriers use the clauses to cash in when a passenger misses the first leg of their journey, the consumer advocates argue.

Delayed airline passengers lost a major battle at the European Court earlier, as a judge ruled in favour of airline bosses who had argued flights delayed or cancelled because of a bird strike on an aircraft are an “extraordinary circumstance”.