ABSTRACT
COVID-19 has led to thousands of pilots being grounded, significantly impacting airline training and safety during operational recovery. Previous research has suggested that the airline safety climate has been negatively impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic, mostly because of borders closure and a sudden loss of revenue. This context led to thousands of pilots being furloughed or dismissed, increasing their stress and anxiety due to financial hardship and resource constraints. However, the influence of the pandemic on how pilots maintained their proficiency while stood down and how they kept engaged with the airline, and therefore the safety climate, has not yet been researched. Hence, this study sought to evaluate the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on grounded pilots. We evaluated the operational distractions caused by the pandemic, external stressors influencing motivation and morale towards work, and how this affected safety climate. A questionnaire study was conducted with 105 airline pilots who were grounded for longer than three months, requiring refresher training and then returned to operational flying. The research found that approximately half of the participants did not engage in any skill and knowledge upkeeping whilst grounded. COVID-19 measures restricted the access to training facilities for many participants, negatively influencing their motivation to skill-upkeeping. Uncertainty with sudden and indefinite grounding periods made it challenging to maintain engagement and motivation. Job-reattachment was further aggravated by the additional financial and personal stress. The pandemic led to distractions in effectively applying their skills to the job. Physical and mental health concerns were mentioned by many participants as a factor influencing their job performance. The study proposes recommendations for airlines to improve engagement of grounded pilots and pilots in isolation. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.