Covid second wave: Airlines seek financial assistance from govt

Airline companies in India have asked the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) to reduce the capacity allowed from 80% of pre-Covid to 60% and have also sought financial assistance as the second wave of Covid infections have hit the aviation industry hard. A government official told a prominent media source that such a financial bailout packet for the aviation industry was highly unlikely. The government had allowed Indian airlines to operate up to 80% of the pre-Covid capacity and was mulling further, increasing it with the number of passengers reaching close to 80% of pre-Covid in February. While other airliners seek financial assistance from the government, IndiGo Airlines has not requested any such assistance. Although airlines were headed back to pre-Covid levels until recently, with the second wave, things have gone back to square one, and the total domestic passenger count declined to as low as 201,000 on Monday, which is a decline of 35,000 passengers in a day. The airline sector had reached the levels of ferrying over 300,000 passengers in a day. As cases have started to increase again, various states and union territories, including Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Odisha, Gujarat and Rajasthan, have mandated Covid-negative tests for passengers. States like Assam, Bihar and Punjab are conducting random checks on arriving passengers. Some states have also announced night curfew and weekend lockdowns, leading to passengers cancelling their trips. According to the media, airlines are reporting a 20-50% decline in flight bookings and air travel amid a sharp spike in Covid-19 cases. The second wave of the infection has come at a time when domestic airlines had started to see a surge in demand after the slump following the outbreak of the pandemic last year. Image Source Also read: Covid impact: Kolkata airport’s expansion project halted