Financial Sustainability of European Air Navigation Service Providers and the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Year 2025, Volume: 9 Issue: 3, 714 - 724, 19.10.2025

Orkun Bayram

https://doi.org/10.30518/jav.1731086

Abstract

This study examines the financial resilience of European Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) before and after the COVID-19 shock. Using a balanced panel dataset covering 2017–2023 for over 30 ANSPs, we employ fixed-effects estimators to quantify changes in key financial metrics—revenue, operating costs, capital expenditures, and free cash flow—once air traffic volumes collapsed. Our findings reveal a pronounced downturn in profitability and liquidity in 2020, followed by uneven recovery trajectories across providers. We also identify factors—such as pre-pandemic leverage and cost structure—that moderated the depth of the shock. These insights contribute to crisis-management literature in aviation finance and offer policy implications for bolstering sectoral sustainability against future disruptions.

Keywords

Air Navigation Service Providers , Financial Sustainability , COVID-19 Shock , Panel Data Analysis , Crisis Management

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