NEW DELHI: THE International Air Transport Association (IATA) on Monday said that airlines in the Asia-Pacific region will be the hardest hit by the Covid-19 crisis, with losses expected to be about $29 billion for 2020.
This is more than a third of the $84.3 billion industry losses estimated globally this year. IATA, in its revised review, estimated India’s passenger demand to fall by 49 per cent year-on-year in the calendar year 2020 due to Covid-19 and slow recovery of the sector. Revenue impact of the pandemic on India’s aviation sector is estimated at $11.6 billion. Furthermore, the potential jobs impact on aviation and sectors dependent on aviation is now pegged at 30.60 lakhs by IATA. In the past few months, every airline has started rationalisating its workforce and sending a large number of its employees on leave without pay. Salary cuts continue to remain rampant in the sector.
Brokerage firm Centrum pointed out that IndiGo may report loss to the tune Rs 2,670 crore for the June quarter, while SpiceJet losses to be at Rs 1,000 crore. “2020 is the worst year in aviation history and airlines are in survival mode. The carriers in Asia-Pacific will experience the largest losses. That’s a loss of $30.09 per passenger,” Conrad Clifford, IATA’s regional vice-president for Asia Pacific said.