Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Aviation Mobility of the Population in European Countries in 2020

Due to restrictions on the movement of people caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the volume of passenger air traffic has decreased in 2020. The geographic study of this phenomenon is highly relevant. The features of the spread of the pandemic over the territory of Europe from a transport-geographical point of view are described; differences are revealed in the dynamics of the population’s aviation mobility (the average number of trips by one resident during the year) of 49 European countries (including Russia) under its influence during the first COVID year. We used statistical information on passenger turnover at large and medium-sized airports in Europe and Russia for 2019 and 2020. The values of the total passenger turnover of all airports in each country for these two years are compared. These changes were measured absolutely and relatively, which made it possible to identify the types of their dynamics: catastrophic, strong, medium, moderate, weak, and insignificant decline. Geographically, the spread of COVID-19 was extremely uneven: at first, the epidemic covered large countries of Europe (Northern Italy became the main focus after Wuhan), then neighboring or more distant ones, closely connected with them; the last but not the least, the countries of the Balkan Peninsula and the post-Soviet space of Eastern Europe. The spread of the disease proceeded hierarchically. The first cases arrived by air, first from the main foci, from where the coronavirus infection was then transmitted to other countries by new groups of air passengers. The pandemic led to a decrease in the level of aviation mobility of the European population from the previous 4.3 to 1.2 trips per year, the strongest in 20 countries, and moderate in 14. The phenomenon of human immobility has arisen, that is, a sharp decrease in transport mobility of people, their greater forced attachment to their place of residence, the inability to move long, medium, and in some cases even short distances.

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