For many of us in the aviation industry, our fortunes looked far better just a few days ago... and the last few weeks have been a bit of a nightmare.
The airshow industry has undergone dozens of cancellations, military jet and demonstration teams are off the grid for many weeks to come... at least... and many small town airshows are going to need a lot of help to recover from the side effects of the pandemic. The airline industry is turning into a bit of a ghost town as international flights dry up extensively, and national routes see reductions that have more than halved the schedules... mostly due to passengers staying home but otherwise spurred on by FAA staffing issues that are popping up with great regularity. Two of the UK’s biggest aviation events, both scheduled for this July, have been cancelled. Both the mighty Farnborough International Airshow and the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford have been taken off the schedule. Farnborough brings in as many as 80,000 visitors while the Fairford is reportedly the UK's biggest warbird event. The ravages of COVID-19 continue to affect all aspects of aviation... even some of the
most promising new aircraft just now coming on to the market. The latest set of casualties comes from Bend, OR, as nearly 300 workers have been laid off from Epic Aircraft, which was just launching its very first production birds when the virus started taking a heavy toll on the industry. In Epic’s case, FAA issues and supplier woes forced the current layoffs. Mike Schrader, Epic’s sales and marketing manager, told local media that, “We laid off a good percentage right now... We’ll have a skeleton crew, 30 to 50 people.” All this -- and MORE in today's episode of Airborne!!!
Airborne 03.23.20 is chock full of info in this Daily News Episode, Monday, March 23rd, 2020... Presented by Aero-TV veteran videographer and Airborne Host Sophie Hurlock. Sophie is supported by ANN Chief Videographer Nathan Cremisino, as well as ANN CEO/Editor-In-Chief Jim Campbell. This episode covers:
- Aero-Industry Struggles With COVID-19
- Farnborough/RAF Fairford Cancelled
- Epic Aircraft Lays Off Hundreds
- Messe Friedrichshafen Postpones Aviation Show AERO To 2021
- Flexjet Launches First-of-Its-Kind Crew Ferry Program
- FAA Revises SAIB Regarding Synthetic Jet Fuels
- DeHavilland Suspends Dash-8 Production
Get Comprehensive, Real-Time, 24/7 coverage of the latest aviation and aerospace stories anytime, at aero-news.net. And be sure to join us again tomorrow, for the next edition of "Airborne Unlimited" here on Aero-TV. Thanks for watching. See you, again, tomorrow!
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