All industries experienced disruption in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but for the aviation industry it was an unprecedented crisis. “Heartbreaking”, is how group chief executive of Etihad Airways Tony Douglas described the moment when the airline’s entire fleet was grounded on March 23 2020, in an effort to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. However, he also said “it was absolutely the right thing to do”. Mr Douglas, who has over three decades of experience in the aviation industry, said Covid-19 has “eclipsed” all other crises faced by the sector “because of the impact that it has had”.

In the last of the seven-part “My 2020” series of conversations with leaders on how they and their industries were impacted by Covid-19 this year, Mr Douglas spoke of how the aviation industry has changed – and will have to continue to change. He said there are so many negatives in 2020 but “you can learn an awful lot from negatives”. As Covid-19 developed into a global health crisis, Mr Douglas said it became increasingly clear that leaders had to handle a "certain degree of ambiguity". He added "the one thing you can't create is what I would describe as false certainty”.

“My 2020” is a seven-part series, hosted by Mina Al-Oraibi, The National's Editor-in-Chief, who speaks to leaders about how their lives and industries have been altered by Covid-19.