Resumption of flights

The Central government’s decision to remove curbs on international air travel from March 27 would cheer up the tourism industry and travellers, many of whom have been yearning to meet their loved ones for over two years. This decision would lead to the resumption of regular international flights to and from India on March 27, and the commercial airlines’ summer schedule would come into effect the same day. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation had suspended scheduled international flight services to and from India on March 23, 2020, when India went into a lockdown to check the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. The curbs on scheduled flights were extended after periodic reviews, though special international flights have been operating between India and around 35 countries since July 2020 under special air bubble arrangements.

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The restrictions on airline operations not only caused misery to people who were unable to travel to meet their families, but also led to severe financial distress to airlines and the travel industry. The disruption caused retrenchments and salary cuts in the travel industry. In India alone, airlines and airports had incurred an estimated loss of Rs 19,564 crore and Rs 5,116 crore, respectively, in 2020-21, as Minister of State for Civil Aviation VK Singh said in December. Around 7,900 employees in India’s aviation sector lost their jobs due to the pandemic in 2020-21, according to Singh. It’s estimated that the losses could aggregate to Rs 42,000 crore for two financial years.

Though the international flight services would resume in the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine war and rising oil prices, they are bound to bring relief to airlines and allied travel industries. The number of new Covid-19 cases in India has declined from nearly 3.5 lakh on January 21 to 4,575 now. Individuals and governments have reached the acceptance that due to mutations in the virus, it is not possible to eliminate the pandemic completely in the short term; reinfections occur despite complete vaccination and the booster dose. The resumption of air travel is another sign of the grim acceptance that come what may, life must go on and efforts must be made to undo the damage done by the pandemic.