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Air transport has been identified as one of the primary means whereby COVID-19 spread throughout Europe during the early stages of the pandemic. In this paper we analyse two categories of methods – dynamic network markers (DNMs) and network analysis-based methods – as potential early warning signals for detecting and anticipating COVID-19 outbreaks in Europe on the basis of accuracy regarding the daily confirmed cases. The analysis was carried out from 15 February 2020, around two weeks before the first COVID-19 cases appeared in Europe, and 1 May 2020, approximately two weeks after all the air traffic in Europe had been shut down. Daily European COVID-19 information sourced from the World Health Organization was used, whereas air traffic data from Flightradar24 has been incorporated into the analyses by means of four alternative adjacency matrices. Some DNMs have been discarded since they output multiple time series, which makes it very difficult to interpret their results. The only DNM outputting a single time series does not emulate the COVID-19 trend: it does not detect all the main peaks, which means that peak heights do not match up with the increase in the number of infected people. However, many combinations of network analysis based methods and adjacency matrices output good results (with high accuracy and 20-day advance forecasts), with only minor differences from one to another. The number of edges and the network density methods are slightly better when dynamic flight frequency information is used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper provides for a systematic overview of the EU scheme for the State aid rules applicable to the air transport sector during Covid-19 crisis. The COVID-19 outbreak is having a major impact on European air transport sector. In order to help air transport undertakings in Europe to overcome the financial troubles, to preserve jobs, to secure supply of essential food, medicals or other items, etc., the EU Commission adopted set of legislative measures enabling the EU Commission and Member States to authorise hundreds of State aid measures, not only to air transport sector, but also to other economic sectors, which were mostly affected by the pandemic. Since in normal circumstances member states State aid to national undertakings are subject to extremely stringent EU competition law regime, the intention of this paper is, firstly, to analyse to what extent and under what conditions that has changed during pandemic. Secondly, the intention of the paper is to explore to what extent and for what purposes different Member States granted State aid to their airline industries with special respect to the French, Austrian, Swedish and Croatian State aid policy. Lastly, the authors will raise question whether massive capital injection to air transport companies being made only by certain, wealthier, member states are going, in long term, to cause negative impacts on the competition in the air transport sector in the internal market 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic in just a few weeks has turned the whole planet upside down: from an open accessible world we have transformed into a closed fragmented particular world separated by hard transient borders. For several months, airlines in Europe suspended almost all their operations and the airports were closed for the commercial aviation. The COVID-19 crisis has caused a collapse in the air traffic and had a catastrophic impact of the airline industry and the aviation value chain. The coronavirus pandemic exposed many weaknesses across the European aviation system for which the relevant institutions did not have a quick and efficient fix. And while we are slowly and conditionally regaining the freedom to travel within the European countries and across continents, the future of air transport is being jeopardized by this global health crisis, both in term of short-term safety and economic impact and its long-term values and responsibilities. In the field of civil aviation safety, the emphasis has shifted from the security measures against acts of unlawful interference, to measures and activities to protect the human health. All relevant international civil aviation organizations began working closely together with the most important international institutions for control of infectious diseases, in the creation of special protocols for protection against COVID-19 in air traffic. Health safety is now an intrinsic element of the aviation safety. It is very clear that air travel will never be the same again and that the air transport industry should contribute to reinventing the travel experience for the future. Because of all this, the aim of this paper is to identify the most significant safety challenges facing the European air transport system in conditions of global health crisis. At the same time, the paper is giving some useful thoughts and recommendations for sustainable implementation of appropriate and efficient safety measures by the entities in the international and domestic aviation industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research provides a systematic literature review on air transportation. Three periods are analysed: 1973–1999 (120 papers), 2000–2019 (742 papers), and 2020–2021 (177 papers), with the period 2000–2019 being the focus. A computer-assisted thematic analysis was conducted using Reinert's method to quantify thematic classes and their prevalence statistically. The evolution of class predominance over time was also analysed. The results highlighted six major thematic classes in 2000–2019, with three reflecting methodologies (i.e., parameter estimation, time-based problems, and optimisation) and the remaining three characterising underlying applications (i.e., co-opetition, business models, and external stakeholder/social view). Classes found for 1973–1999 also discuss optimisation and co-opetition, with the remaining classes focusing on aviation developments in Europe and transportation systems in general. Classes found for 2020–2021 agreed largely to the period 2000–2019, albeit with more well-delineated classes on the COVID-19 pandemic and the connectivity and accessibility of air networks. A correlation of methodologies and applications (2000–2019) identified the ubiquitous use of regression analysis throughout applications and the underrepresentation of complex network analysis and economic modelling in applications associated with the business models and external stakeholder/social view classes. Temporal trends suggest a steady increase in discussions of the parameter estimation class and subclasses related to low-cost carriers in Europe, regional airports, and high-speed rail co-opetition, and a decrease in investigations of airline alliances, deregulation, and privatisation. • Air transport network references are analysed with Reinert's method. • Thematic classes and prevalence are statistically quantified and spatially mapped. • Temporal trends and correlations of methods and applications are discussed. • A hierarchical structure of themes is provided. • Results assist in theory development and identification of areas for examination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainable development concept is promoted as a theoretical frame suitable to face the challenges of the air transport market. The task is to focus on the solutions for current and future air transport strategies to provide movement of people and goods in a sustainable, equal, inclusive and efficient way. This research aims to recognise sustainable development challenges and refer to the situation of Central and Eastern European countries. The challenges to the sustainable development of air transport were grouped into environmental concerns, infrastructural and labour problems, technological change, digitalisation and changing passenger behaviour. Even though Central and Eastern European countries are lagging behind Western countries in terms of the number of passengers carried by air, they face the same challenges to the sustainable development of air transport markets. Air transport companies on their path to sustainable development should search for new, innovative solutions. There is a call for institutional changes to support sustainable initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019) hit Europe in January 2020. By March, Europe was the active centre of the pandemic. As a result, widespread "lockdown" measures were enforced across the various European countries, even if to a different extent. Such actions caused a dramatic reduction, especially in road traffic. This event can be considered the most significant experiment ever conducted in Europe to assess the impact of a massive switch-off of atmospheric pollutant sources. In this study, we focus on in situ concentration data of the main atmospheric pollutants measured in twelve European cities, characterized by different climatology, emission sources, and strengths. We propose a methodology for the fair comparison of the impact of lockdown measures considering the non-stationarity of meteorological conditions and emissions, which are progressively declining due to the adoption of stricter air quality measures. The analysis of these unmatched circumstances allowed us to estimate the impact of a nearly zero-emission urban transport scenario on air quality in 12 European cities. The clearest result, common to all the cities, is that a dramatic traffic reduction effectively reduces NO2 concentrations. In contrast, each city's PM and ozone concentrations can respond differently to the same type of emission reduction measure. From the policy point of view, these findings suggest that measures targeting urban traffic alone may not be the only effective option for improving air quality in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between mood and air travel choices, considering the role of travel significance and the influence that COVID-19 may have on younger generations' choices. Using a mixed-methods sequential exploratory design, a sample of 1,111 Italian respondents, belonging to younger generations is investigated. The data are analysed using a quantile regression with group effects considering attitudes towards COVID-19. The study demonstrates that there is a positive and significant relationship between mood and the number of journeys by air to destinations outside Europe, highlighting the positive moderating effect of the air travel experience and the negative moderating effect of COVID-19. This may have important implications for air transport managers interested in luring younger people to fly in the post-COVID19 era. • Younger generations regard travelling an important aspect of their life. • The mood of travelling varies across young people. • Mood is influenced by the number of undertaken long-haul trips. • The reaction to COVID-19 influences the relationship between mood and air transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For Europe's urban agglomerations to be economically competitive, it is vital that international destinations be easily accessible. Although much has been invested in the construction of European rail infrastructure over the past century, passenger transport by rail has not grown as fast as transport by road and air. So why do people not use international trains more, even though they have an extensive international rail network at their disposal? Based on a series of in-depth interviews with relevant public and private stakeholders and two expert meetings, we identify the main bottlenecks and constraints. In order to understand the complexity of international rail transport, we have divided the existing bottlenecks into four groups corresponding to four layers of the rail transport system: mobility services, transport services, traffic services, and the physical and digital infrastructure. We formulate concrete policy recommendations for improvements to be made in the various components of the rail transport system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we examine the relationship between safety culture and national culture, and the implications of this relationship for international safety culture assessments. Focussing on Hofstede's uncertainty avoidance ( UA) index, a survey study of 13,616 Air Traffic Management employees in 21 European countries found a negative association between safety culture and national norm data for UA. This is theorized to reflect the influence of national tendencies for UA upon attitudes and practices for managing safety (e.g., anxiety on risk; reliance on protocols; concerns over reporting incidents; openness to different perspectives). The relationship between UA and safety culture is likely to have implications for international safety culture assessments. Specifically, benchmarking exercises will consistently indicate safety management within organizations in high UA countries to be poorer than low UA countries due to the influence of national culture upon safety practices, which may limit opportunities for identifying and sharing best practice. We propose the use of safety culture against international group norms ( SIGN) scores to statistically adjust for the influence of UA upon safety culture data, and to support the identification of safety practices effective and particular to low or high UA cultures. Practitioner points National cultural tendencies for uncertainty avoidance (UA) are negatively associated with safety culture., This indicates that employee safety-related attitudes and practices may be influenced by national culture, and thus factors outside the direct control of organizational management., International safety culture assessments should attempt to determine the influence of national culture upon safety culture in order that benchmarking exercises compare aspects of safety management and not national culture., Safety culture against international group norms (SIGN) scores provide a potential way to do this, and can facilitate the identification of best practice within countries operating in a low or high UA cultural cluster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The worldwide distribution of dengue is expanding, in part due to globalized traffic and trade. Aedes albopictus is a competent vector for dengue viruses (DENV) and is now established in numerous regions of Europe. Viremic travellers arriving in Europe from dengue-affected areas of the world can become catalysts of local outbreaks in Europe. Local dengue transmission in Europe is extremely rare, and the last outbreak occurred in 1927–28 in Greece. However, autochthonous transmission was reported from France in September 2010, and from Croatia between August and October 2010. Methodology: We compiled data on areas affected by dengue in 2010 from web resources and surveillance reports, and collected national dengue importation data. We developed a hierarchical regression model to quantify the relationship between the number of reported dengue cases imported into Europe and the volume of airline travellers arriving from dengue-affected areas internationally. Principal Findings: In 2010, over 5.8 million airline travellers entered Europe from dengue-affected areas worldwide, of which 703,396 arrived at 36 airports situated in areas where Ae. albopictus has been recorded. The adjusted incidence rate ratio for imported dengue into European countries was 1.09 (95% CI: 1.01–1.17) for every increase of 10,000 travellers; in August, September, and October the rate ratios were 1.70 (95%CI: 1.23–2.35), 1.46 (95%CI: 1.02–2.10), and 1.35 (95%CI: 1.01–1.81), respectively. Two Italian cities where the vector is present received over 50% of all travellers from dengue-affected areas, yet with the continuing vector expansion more cities will be implicated in the future. In fact, 38% more travellers arrived in 2013 into those parts of Europe where Ae. albopictus has recently been introduced, compared to 2010. Conclusions: The highest risk of dengue importation in 2010 was restricted to three months and can be ranked according to arriving traveller volume from dengue-affected areas into cities where the vector is present. The presence of the vector is a necessary, but not sufficient, prerequisite for DENV onward transmission, which depends on a number of additional factors. However, our empirical model can provide spatio-temporal elements to public health interventions. Author Summary: The global disease burden of dengue is staggering. Continuous expansion and vaccine failures illustrate the limitations of current dengue control efforts. Novel approaches and additional tools are required to combat and contain the disease. In Europe, dengue infections are rare and the last outbreak of dengue occurred in the late 1920s, in Greece. In 2010, however, local transmission occurred in France and Croatia. Based on 2010 data, we present a novel quantitative model of the risk of dengue importation for Europe. The 2010 model predicts the risk of dengue importation to be greatest for Milan, Rome and Barcelona in August, September and October, precisely when vector activity is the highest. With the current expansion of the vector in Europe, more cities are projected to be at risk in the future. Thus, the model based on 2010 data quantifies the likelihood and timing of importation. This approach employs global travel data to assess dengue importation risk in the EU and illustrates how quantitative models could tailor infectious disease control to certain regions and time periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]