Passengers. We need you...

I have been a journalist in aviation for five years this coming October, three of which currently with Airways Magazine.

Even if I have not had a long time writing about this industry compared to some of the greats I have come across, there is something quite obvious about this industry in a pandemic-based state.

We need you. The passenger. The frequent-flyer. The businessman. The holiday-goer.

Whilst this novel Coronavirus has changed the way business and leisure works, you have got to remember how great it was before this period of sheer horror for aviation.

Passenger demand was solid. Airlines were bulk-buying aircraft in the hundreds.

One thing that I have always found so negatively mesmerizing is the way this industry shuts down when something significant like this occurs.

In the UK alone, we have seen the likes of Flybe, a big player in the regional market, go bust.

We have seen established airlines such as Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, and Lufthansa scrambling to acquire funds where possible.

But as we now begin to slowly think about recovery, we need to continue with the message that those in the United States, in particular, have been pushing.

1. Safety: Airlines have spent hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars on ensuring your safety when you are in what many consider a narrow tin can. I have the utmost confidence that those who step foot onto an airplane, you are all safe. We have HEPA grade filters that are constantly removing dirty air from the cabin.
2. Testing: Airlines and airports are now getting into the gist of testing passengers to disable the level of spread this virus has been rapidly doing.
3. Face-masks: To those that refuse to wear masks, you are hindering this industry and costing the airline money for every minute extra that aircraft is on the ground. So please, wear a mask or don't fly and stay at home. By taking those additional minutes of arguing with a flight attendant about what your rights are, you are hindering any element of growth going forward.

Those three elements all come together with the view of the consumer. We need you. Without you, airlines in an industry I love dearly go under and it makes the situation even more depressing than what it has to be.

So all I ask is please, where possible (obviously quarantine rules in each country is different), book that holiday. Enjoy yourself, you have deserved it. Let's get this recovery started and also finished.

Without this industry, my life would have been in a different way very adversely. So to see people attempt to hinder it upsets me greatly.

Restrictions like this will not last forever. Like all of the other 99.99999% of compliant people, get with the program, and let's all try to return to some element of normality.

Big thanks to all!

-James