How Covid has changed aviation and airlines

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The pandemic has really changed a few industries, including aviation. From being close to bankruptcy and relying on government aid and bailouts to bouncing back so strongly that there is a shortage of aircraft in the world right now, the swing has been momentous to say the least.

While the passenger numbers have stabilised and international travellers have returned to India, phrases like Covid-19, RT-PCR and Air Suvidha have made a comeback along with restrictions and testing of arriving passengers from certain countries on the back of a new wave of infections across the world, largely led by China, from where data is hard to come by.

Against this backdrop, in the second scheduling season post the removal of restrictions on international flights, the country is yet to see a handful of airlines return with flights.

Who has not made it back?

Not surprisingly, China, although overwhelmed by Covid cases right now, has continued to remain closed. This has meant that there have been very few countries which have restarted flights to and from China and that applies equally to Chinese carriers. Air China, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern and Shandong Airlines have not restarted flights to India. Likewise, Indian carriers are also not flying to China. This has meant that there is no connectivity to Beijing, Guangzhou, Kunming and Shanghai.

Taiwan’s China Airlines, which operated flights to Taipei from Delhi, hasn’t made a comeback as well.

From the neighbourhood, Afghan Ariana Airlines has not been able to relaunch flights to Delhi for reasons beyond the pandemic. Events in Afghanistan in 2021 meant that a lot has changed in the country. Geopolitical events are also responsible for the suspension of flights of Ukraine International Airlines to Delhi from Kiev.

Israeli carriers have also not returned. Arkia Air operated flights to Goa while El Al operated flights to Mumbai, pre-Covid. Both the airlines are yet to restart operations. Delta Air Lines. which had restarted India operations in December 2019, decided to shun the route completely. As irony would have it, the B777-200LRs which the airline had deployed for operations to India, have been retired by the airline and now will be operated by Air India on flights to the US! Batik Air’s services to Chennai from Medan (via Kuala Lumpur) and Bangkok Air’s lone service to India (Mumbai) from Bangkok have also not returned. In the neighbourhood, two airlines from Bangladesh (NovoAir and Regent Airways) are to make a comeback.

While there are airlines which are yet to restart, the pandemic took the toll of some airlines completely. Silk Air, which operated pre-pandemic, has merged with parent Singapore Airlines, ceasing to exist, while Thai Nok shut down.

While the older ones faded, the newer ones shined

Interesting as it may sound, new airlines have been born during Covid. Not only have they been born, they have also launched flights to India. AirArabia Abu Dhabi, a subsidiary of Sharjah-based Air Arabia, operated its first flight in July 2020. The airline now operates to three destinations in India from its Abu Dhabi hub.

Omani LCC Salam Air and Iraqi carrier Fly Baghdad introduced services to India, post the start of international services last March.

Two established carriers, American Airlines and Qantas, returned to India during the same period. American offers a daily service to New York from New Delhi, while Qantas launched seasonal services to Delhi from Melbourne and Sydney, enhanced its presence with a service to Bengaluru and continued Melbourne-Delhi as a year-round service.

The onslaught by Vietnamese carriers continued with Vietnam Airlines joining VietJet in launching flights to India. VietJet’s subsidiary, Thai VietJet, introduced services to india as well.

Tail note

The international footfalls at airports in India were 49,55,900 in November 2022, the last month for which data has been released. This was lower than the footfalls of November 2019 (60,60,848). December has been better. But this presents an opportunity to Indian carriers like never before to fill the void left by the carriers -- especially to neighbouring countries and places where the Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASAs) allows addition of capacity.

Will the airlines grab it? The ones which can are reeling under one issue or another, which is leading to a shortage of planes and this might have to wait as well!