Airlines in India will see a revenue decline of $11,610 million in 2020, besides a $3,060,000 million hit on aviation and dependent sectors due to the coronavirus pandemic, as per the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
India also saw passenger demand decline by 49 percent year-on-year (YoY), compared to 2019.
Overall, airlines in the Asia-Pacific region will be hardest hit, and are expected to clock close to $29 billion in losses for the year – more than a third of the $84.3 billion industry losses globally.
The year 2020 is the worst in aviation history and airlines are in survival mode. The carriers in Asia-Pacific will experience the largest losses at $29 billion. That’s a loss of $30.09 per passenger, IATA said.
The region was the first to feel the COVID-19 impact and airlines here saw passenger demand collapse 53.8 percent while running on reduced capacity of 39.2 percent.
Passenger demand is measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), while capacity is available seat kilometres (ASK). IATA represents 290-odd airlines, which comprise 82 percent of all global air traffic.
The priority is for the region’s governments to facilitate the restart of air connectivity in line with the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Take-off guidance and principles.
The report said that it would take “a few years” for the industry to get back to 2019 levels of activity, but financial relief and assistance, besides flexibility in slot usage from governments to airlines would help.
Region-wise losses, IATA estimates:
