The Economist explores COVID-19's disruptive impact on air travel.

There are enormous implications for airline profits and those of airline industry suppliers including aviation parts and airports. It may take years for the industry to recover - or perhaps it never will?

Thousands of jobs are being shelved and many airlines have either had to seek government financial assistance or seek fresh equity and debt finance to stay in the air.

For years, cheap air travel has played a hugely important role in driving globalisation and fuelling the travel and hospitality sectors.

Will average fares have to rise to restore large parts of the sector to profitability? What might this do to the affordability and accessibility of air travel?

One likely impact is the rise of localised travel ands a partial shift towards rail services.