If you are anything like me, you are probably wondering exactly where we are now in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Many countries across the world are still handling their initial outbreaks while those that seemed to have overcome the worst of it and have begun opening up, are now dealing with emerging spikes and are again reintroducing lockdowns of varying severity.

While such uncertainty remains, this makes it very hard for the aviation sector not only to recommence operations and services, but also to plan for the future in any concrete fashion.

Considerable differences remain between countries, as can be seen on page 16, where some of the world’s largest aviation bodies have combined forces to urge African governments to do the same in order to assist the region’s aviation sector.

Similarly, in Europe the continent’s LCCs continue to pay the price of conflicting legislation introduced by various countries (page 8). Of course, this is having a knock-on effect on every part of the aviation industry, with Swissport’s current sorrows laid bare on page 40.

But that is not to say all is doom and gloom. Istanbul Airport has used the downtime to reshape its strategy and is adopting new practices as it reopens, as our interview with CEO Kadri Samsunlu reveals on page 20.

Finnair is also being increasingly nimble in its reintroduction of services as pent-up demand is proving stronger than expected. Vice president global sales Mikko Turtiainen exclusively explains to ARGS what is going on behind the scenes on page 4.

Elsewhere, work continues apace to deal with the evolving pandemic and its ongoing impact as stories on Transom (page 44), Menzies Aviation (page 34) and the Airline Catering Association (page 46) all reveal.

Similarly, avenues to successfully growing business are being considered as analysis by Alton Aviation Consultancy on travel bubbles (page 12) and ICF on the fifth freedom (page 26) show.

In short, there are still no easy answers currently but we must hope that the hard work, innovation and customer focus that all parts of the industry display will lead to its continued survival.