In the last one month, the novel coronavirus has wreaked havoc affecting almost every industry in the country. Indian aviation has suffered as a result of 600 international flights being canceled for varying periods. Some 500 of these were by foreign carriers and the rest by Indian operators flying overseas. Air India decided to cancel flights to Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Israel, South Korea, and Sri Lanka till April 30, on Friday as the concerns over the global health emergency that is now classified as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. After a day of suspension of services to Kuwait till April 30, the company restricted to other countries as well.
India observed over 600 international canceled flights to and from India over the last one month and the number of canceled international flights is only expected to rise after India announced the suspension of all visas, except for a few categories like diplomatic and employment-related till April 15. Whereas, domestic airlines are recording canceled flights which is more than 90 and IndiGo has canceled maximum flights. The company has hinted at huge losses and a weak quarter.
The aviation sector is currently a lot of pressure, but the industry leaders are claiming they were here before and the pressure is only temporary. The international passengers arriving in the country saw a dip and the number has come down from 70,000 per day to 62,000. The new visa restrictions are likely to bring this number further down. Private airport operators wrote to the government to seek relief owing to the situation the aviation sector is facing. The request is to impose a nominal passenger facilitation charge on airfares to cover increased operating expenses.
