There has been a lot of talks about restarting the domestic aviation to revive the commercial aviation sector. Industry experts are of the opinion that this is the perfect time to consider and bring aviation reforms and pass the industry’s long pending demands.
Speaking at the Bird Group Leadership Initiative online seminar on COVID – 2020 and Beyond, Ajay Singh, CMD, SpiceJet said aviation is the most impacted industry in the world and in India, and revenues from the aviation industry have come to “zero” across the world. “This lockdown period is an opportunity for the aviation industry as we can find a structural reform which we have been looking since years. Always reforms take place when there is a disaster. Amongst these reforms getting Air Turbine Fuel under GST is a long pending request. We should see how we can increase the Indian aviation footprints in this region. Secondly, the whole structure of airports and airport concessions should be relooked at. Today, the whole structure increases cost of aviation and overburdens the air passengers instead of reducing the costs. Airport infrastructure charges as of today is very expensive which should be reduced,” he added.
He further said: “If we want to create global airlines in India and develop India as a global aviation hub, then this is the right time to relook at it. On a long term, we need to ensure ATF under GST and we should try to develop our own technologies and not pay exorbitantly for these technologies. This will surely reduce cost.”
He also said that governments throughout the world are trying to ensure that airlines don’t collapse. “Airlines in India need short term support from government, we are talking to them on a daily basis,” Singh added.
There were also speculations that if the industry restarts, there will be a social distancing in airlines with keeping one seat empty. Despite this being a logical idea, this will further increase the air travel cost and doesn’t seem viable.
Speaking about the importance to restart commercial aviation, Sanat Kaul, Chairman, International Foundation for Aviation, Aerospace & Drones (IFFAAD) said, “The aviation sector should be restarted at least in the domestic sectors under testing phase. This will at least bring aviation back on track. The issues on airport concession which is increasing the aviation cost should be seriously looked at. The opening of commercial aviation should be a priority. As far as international aviation, there should be caution and that will take time. Also keeping one seat empty in each row is not a viable option. Instead, keeping mouth and nose covered at all time and no serving of food or drink should be implemented.”
One of the stalwarts of the tourism, aviation and railways, Ashwani Lohani, Former CMD, Air India and For Chairman, Railway Board was a part of the panel discussion who opined that every state and also the Ministry of Tourism should push domestic tourism at this moment.
Speaking about tourism strategy, Lohani said, ““It is clear that there will be a lot of apprehensions when it comes to travel. We don’t know as of now how things will pan out. We have in the past always spoken about domestic tourism as the mainstay but have not focused aggressively. At this point, the Ministry of Tourism should discuss with all the state tourism and set domestic tourism as the priority sector. We need to come up with simple action plans to execute this rather than complex plans by hiring expensive consultants.”
Speaking about the aviation sector, he further said, “Airlines have always been suffering and has a lot of issues and constraints. With the plans to start airlines with social distancing will lead to a steep increase in airline ticket pricing. For airlines, we need to come up with a strategy where these prices don’t go up steeply and also the airline at least break evens the operational costs.”
