I was employed in the finance industry during the GFC. Maybe some here were still in short pants at school when that blew through town. Here is a snapshot what I witnessed while servicing clients.
Many lost their home/investment property/car
Some committed suicide
Many lost their jobs and never returned to their original occupation or pre GFC salary level
Many superannuation accounts halved (yes they came back eventually) this delayed many retiring which completely screwed opportunities for the young.
Some experienced mental illness and were never the same.
Many went bankrupt.
Considering this appears many times more damaging then the GFC (this is a health crisis and an economic crisis) I wouldn't expect to see the bounce in air travel as many have stated.
The wealth of millions of people has been destroyed and I suspect we are still in the early days of an undefined timeline. How is the government going to bail out all of these people and the companies they work for? More money printing? Taxation?
Some other points to consider:
Consumers are carrying far more debt than in the GFC. Australians have the highest private debt levels per capita in the world.
Anyone under say 35 hasn't seen bad times as a working adult thus the appetite for risk in many was extreme.
Interest rates were higher at around 7% from memory and the RBA had plenty of room to move - today they are out of ammunition with regards to rates
The issues of the GFC were never resolved - "the can was just kicked down the road" as they say
I suspect this is a brave new world where the excesses and luxuries experienced by so many are gone for now including air travel and holidays.
This is a huge sh*t sandwich and we are all going to take a bite - unfortunately even our kids and grand kids.
If you weren't working with a mortgage over your head during a recession or the GFC you wouldn't understand why so many people have a grim outlook.