1.

Introduction

In 2019, a days after an outbreak of "severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus 2" in
Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, and the virus spread internationally. According to Zhu et al. (2020), that
resulted in an epidemic named COVID-19 or Coronavirus pandemic by the WHO experts. Following that,
Coronavirus became the most considerable epidemic, with WHO experts declaring it a worldwide
pandemic. Furthermore, Lebeaux and Revest (2020 101819) and Mohamed et al. (2022 113499) state
that, aside from vaccines and prophylactic efforts, there is no pharmaceutical treatment for the novel
COVID-19. According to New Scientist and Press Association (2020), the UK Department of Health
revealed the nation's first two COVID-19 cases in January 2020. As instructed by the WHO, the British
Government, created stringent regulations to contain rapid transmissions that were already surging in
the whole population even before the WHO declared COVID-19 a worldwide pandemic.

The outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic has precipitated an unprecedented downturn in the
worldwide economy. The pandemic significantly affected business operations in all parts of the globe.
These have been due to the measures many countries have put in place to restrict the spread of the
virus. According to Kaushal and Srivastava (2021 102707) and Keogh-Brown et al. (2020 100651), some
of the measures the UK government took to slow the spread of the COVID-19 included lockdowns,
movement restrictions, social isolation and little to no social gatherings, the closing of gyms and clubs,
and a work-from-home policy. That means the pandemic significantly threatened the development of
the global economy and public health. In addition to being a threat to human health, COVID-19 has also
hampered business activities across all sectors.

The international business communities feel the transformation's effects most keenly. Organizations
globally must act quickly and forcefully to address the pandemic's numerous challenges. This study will
focus on British Airways' business recovery to mitigate the consequences of Covid-19 on business
operations. The following are the main research aim, questions, and objectives of conducting this
research.

Research Aims

By concentrating on British airlines, this study explores how businesses recovered from the
adverse effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Business managers need access to this information
to help their organizations recover from the pandemic outbreak and get ready for similar threats.
Research questions
RQ1: How did COVID-19 affect revenue regarding the number of passengers and regional
travelers? 
RQ2: How did the British airline business survive the COVID-19 Pandemic?
RQ3: What strategies should business managers use to recover from an outbreak with an adverse
effect on their business operations?
Objectives
1. To ascertain the COVID - 19 pandemic's impact on the UK aviation industry.
2. To determine how UK airline firms managed to endure the Pandemic.
3. Develop suggestions for how businesses can bounce back from potential pandemics.
This chapter has introduced the research study by providing a brief overview. That is through the
background of the research topic, aims, objectives, and questions. The remainder of this research
report is structured as follows: the next section will; focus on the importance of conducting this
study. These include the factors that contributed to the need for the research. Section three will
be a literature review section. Here, the study will present a critical literature review of the
current research. Chapter four will be a methodology section discussing the approaches
undertaken to conduct the investigation. The cost, access, and ethical issues are presented in
section 5, while the preliminary results and the discussion on these results are shown in sections
6 and 7, respectively.
2. Importance of the Study

The selection of this research topic was due to several factors. For instance, I was driven by how the

Business airways owners reported their business recovery after COVID-19. This was due to the

return on travel which helped them get profit. The owner of British Airways reported that recovery

in business travel and trips would eventually drive a return to their profitability this year, 2022

(Sweney & Topham). According to the article, the main focus for these airline owners was how to

effectively recover from the business after experiencing the adverse effect of the COVID-19

pandemic. They expect to be profitable from this recovery.

Furthermore, the current war between Ukraine and Russia has significantly impacted some business

operations, including the airline businesses that depended on customers from Russia and Ukraine.

According to the article, Luis Gallego, the chief executive of IAG, reported that they have

experienced a loss of 510 million pounds in the first three months this year since the war started in

Ukraine and Russia (Sweney & Topham). Besides, the company’s shares were also reported to have

fallen by 8%, making IAG the only company with a significant decline in the FTSE 100 ranking.

However, they expect to bounce back with the business and get the average profits they have been

earning regardless of their challenges.

These are the key factors that contributed to the selection of this research. I realized that apart from

the two companies, several other business organizations have been hit by adverse factors, including

the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Russia and Ukraine. However, the management of these

companies may have needed to prepare to survive and recover from such factors. Besides, many
businesses also stopped their operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic because their management

was not prepared to tackle such adverse occurrences. COVID-19, for instance, brought unexpected

and fast-moving effects for which several existing plans and teams needed to prepare. However,

businesses can turn the COVID-19 disruption to their advantage if they build resilience for the next

crisis n that may occur. Therefore, conducting a research study on this area was essential to help

other businesses with strategies to help them survive such effects and recover from adverse global

or national pandemics and wars.