COVID-19 second wave | Crisis in Indian aviation sector at 'point of no return': CAPA

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The crisis in the Indian aviation sector owing to the second COVID-19 wave has reached a "point of no return", aviation consultancy firm CAPA India said on May 23.

If the Ministry of Civil Aviation fails to adopt immediate measures to contain the crisis, the sector would end up suffering an irreparable loss, it said.

The situation "can no longer be ignored" by the government, it said. "Failure to reduce the distress - and to do so within days, not longer - will result in irreparable damage to jobs and the sector as a whole," CAPA tweeted.

The crisis in #IndianAviation as a result of the 2nd wave has reached a point of no return for some & can no longer be ignored by @MoCA_GoI. Failure to reduce the distress - and to do so within days, not longer - will result in irreparable damage to jobs & the sector as a whole.

— CAPA India (@capa_india) May 23, 2021

The warning was reiterated by CAPA days after it claimed that the Indian aviation sector was likely headed towards a "collapse".

In a report titled Key Trends in Indian Aviation in FY2022: Impact of Second Wave, released on May 3, the consultancy firm stated that COVID-19 has "inflicted massive losses and led to an increasing debt burden on carriers that were structurally ill-equipped to absorb this impact".

“The extent of the challenge is reflected in the fact that Indian carriers under-recovered $70 per flyer in FY21," the report said.

Also Read | COVID-19 impact | 57.25 lakh domestic air passengers in April, 26.8% lower than March: DGCA

Domestic and global aviation has been hit since March 2020, when coronavirus was declared as a pandemic. While international flights continue to remain suspended in India, the domestic carriers - which began inching towards pre-pandemic levels - were hit in late March by the onset of the second virus wave.

The domestic air passenger traffic in April declined to 57.25 lakh, marking a 26 percent month-on-month drop, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.