Coronavirus Sends Aviation Industry Crashing

Alongside enormous financial losses, the sector stares at retrenchment and consolidation, down the line

- Ashwini Phadnis

Among the sectors to be hit by the fast-spreading coronavirus is aviation, both globally and in India. Countries are taking their own measures for the sector, which is on the brink of collapse.

In India, the impact of the virus was felt even before the government announced that all domestic operations will cease between March 24 and March 31 as domestic carriers had started cutting back on flights due to a fall in demand.

The cutback in flights had a cascading effect as the number of people at the airports to carry out functions like checkin, aircraft security, lifting of meals to be put on to the aircraft, apart from those employed in the various eating and shopping areas in the airport, also got affected. As things stand today, all domestic and international flights are banned till April 15 in India. Further, there is no clarity on whether the ban will be extended, leaving the Indian aviation sector staring at a very bleak future.

Entire fleet grounded

The entire fleet of 650 aircraft with Indian carriers is grounded. Commenting on the impact of the grounding, aviation advisory CAPA says that if the grounding of all domestic and international operations continues till June 30, the Indian aviation industry could report a loss of $3.3 billion to $3.6 billion in the first quarter of 2020-21. Given similar scenarios across the world, international bodies like the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which estimates that globally the industry is likely to report a loss of about $250 billion, are appealing to governments for help.