It was announced from Amsterdam on 8 April that the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) and Aireon are to deliver an initiative to produce data-driven insights and analysis to better understand how COVID-19 is impacting a broad range of stakeholders within the aviation industry. Particular emphasis will be placed on how the pandemic is impacting the air traffic management (ATM) and the flow of essential goods and services.

This partnership comes at a time when the aviation industry faces a crisis unlike any throughout its history. Starting in March 2020 the aviation industry saw the erosion of traffic from a daily average of approximately 100,000 flights to just 32,000 flights on 4 April. Daily flight hours have fallen 78% from typical global averages captured in January 2020.