
Aviation: It isn’t a fine autumn sky
Indian aviation is flying through heavy turbulence despite the government’s pro-industry directives. And the surge in Covid-19 cases across India is making matters worse.
Indian aviation is flying through heavy turbulence despite the government’s pro-industry directives. And the surge in Covid-19 cases across India is making matters worse.
The cautious easing of the lockdown in several states and the reverse migration of labour will make a return to normal economic activity a difficult task.
The extension, which takes the total day-count of the lockdown to 54, will add to the challenges that the economy was already facing before Covid-19 took the shape of a pandemic.
The MoCA asked airlines to fully refund passengers on their domestic and international ticket cancellations for purchases made between March 25 and April 14 and for travel between March 25 and May 3.
Industry body IATA estimates that airlines across the world could burn through $61 billion of cash reserves in the second quarter alone; approximately 25 million aviation jobs are at risk.
In a bid to tide over the unprecedented crisis because of the Covid-19 pandemic, SpiceJet announced a company-wide pay cut. However, employees in the “lowest pay grades” would remain unaffected.
Even after the unprecedented chaos wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic settles, there’s turbulence ahead for the air travel industry.
Better ticket yields, higher passenger growth, and lower fuel costs helped the airline post a profit of ₹496 crore compared to a loss of over ₹1,000 crore in the previous quarter.
Corporate revenue growth seen around 5-6% in the first quarter of FY20 because of a broad-based slowdown in consumption.
Apart from the billions of dollars needed to resurrect the beleaguered airline, its re-entry into the low-cost carrier-dominated Indian aviation market is viewed with scepticism.