The Domestic Aviation Industry, Which Has Been Impacted by Coronavirus
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1 Revue de presse du 16 au 29 mai 2020 Mumbai: The domestic aviation industry, which has been impacted by coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown, will require an additional funding worth Rs 32,500 to 35,000 crore during FY21-23, according to rating agency Icra. It also said the industry-level debt is expected to increase to Rs 465 billion (around Rs 46,500 crore) over FY 2021-22. At the same time, the industry is expected to report revenue de-growth of 44 per cent and a negative CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 26 per cent in 2021-2023, Kinjal Shah, Vice President at Icra, said during a webinar on Thursday. "Considering the daily net loss of Rs 75-Rs 90 crore during the shutdown of operations and the expected weak demand, the Indian aviation industry will require additional funding of Rs 325-350 billion (Rs 32,500 to 35,000 crore) over FY2021-23. "The industry level debt is expected to increase to Rs 465 billion over FY 2021-22," Shah said. In the forecast, Icra has included an aggregate of all the five private sector players -- IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir, Vistara and AirAsia India -- to make the balance sheet. It may be mentioned here, that the disinvestment-bound Air India has parked nearly half of its total -- over Rs 60,000 crore -- debt into the SPV to make the heavily-leveraged balance sheet more attractive to the prospective buyers. According to the rating agency, the aviation industry is expected to report a negative 44 per cent growth in revenue for FY21 owing to an estimated 0.7 per cent growth in the domestic passenger traffic in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The profitability of the industry would also be adversely impacted in the ongoing fiscal due to lower revenues and high fixed costs, which is 35-42 per cent of the total cost of airlines. 14/05/20 PTI/Business Standard IndiGo has revised the contract terms of pilots who are undergoing training, with new terms including up to a 50 percent cut in salaries and a change in rostering. Most of these pilots, sources told Moneycontrol, had joined the country's largest airline from Jet Airways, which had suspended operations in April last year. "These are non-released pilots. They have got a 50 percent pay cut, and the new contract is valid till March 2021," said a senior executive from the industry. Pilots undergoing training are called 'non-released'. According to the new contract, these pilots will be on a two-week-on and two-week-off schedule. Normally, a pilot is asked to be available for the full month, and leaves depend on the rostering. Reduced flying hours impacts the allowances a pilot gets. Moneycontrol has written to IndiGo for a response, and will update the story accordingly. The airline had announced pay cuts from May. This was after it had rolled back a similar announcement in April. In a mail to employees, CEO Ronojoy Dutta had said "Leave without pay will range from 1.5-5 days depending on the employee group. Level A employees, who form a majority of 2 our workforce will not be impacted." 14/05/20 Moneycontrol.com/Forbes Even as routine commercial passenger flight operations remain suspended for last seven weeks due to Covid-19 outbreak, a private cargo aircraft carrying medical essentials arrived at Srinagar International Airport on Wednesday. This is the first private airliner to arrive in Srinagar since March 25 when government of India suspended routine commercial air traffic. Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials told Greater Kashmir that private airliner SpiceJet operated its maiden cargo flight carrying medical and essential supplies from Delhi to Srinagar. The flight also travelled to Leh before touching down at Srinagar, AAI official said. “It is a good sign that a private airline cargo aircraft has started its operations to the Valley. The next cargo flight of the same airline is scheduled for May 15,” said Santosh Dhoke, Director AAI, Srinagar Airport. However, Dhoke said construction of a dedicated cargo terminal at Srinagar Airport “has temporarily been stopped due to the lockdown owing to Covid-19”. The Airport Director added that existing terminal used to handle more than 25 metric tonnes of cargo operations every day. AAI officials said several special flights of Indian Air Force, one flight of Indian Airlines and Jammu and Kashmir government-owned aircraft have arrived at Srinagar during the lockdown period so far. “Life saving drugs worth more than Rs 90 lakh procured by Kashmir-based pharmaceutical dealers from outside companies have been airlifted to the Valley in last 7 weeks. Consignments of life saving drugs including medicines used for cancer, diabetes, renal and cardiac problems have been airlifted to the Valley with help from the IAF,” the official said. However, the SpiceJet cargo flight is the first private aircraft to arrive here since March 25. Speaking with Greater Kashmir, Irfan Hussain Kanth, Regional Manager, North India, Sales and Operations SpiceJet Cargo said apart from bringing medical supplies to the Valley, the airline was keen on supplying fruits and vegetables from the growers here. 14/05/20 Saqib Malik/Greater Kashmir Mumbai: German airlines group Lufthansa on Thursday said it plans to resume its services to India, which are currently suspended due to the lockdown in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, by June, when it is expecting to operate to more than 130 destinations globally. The services in India will be restored to Mumbai from Frankfurt to begin with, subject to regulatory approvals, the airline said in a statement. With over 106 destinations in Germany and Europe and more than 20 inter-continental destinations, the range of flights on offer for all travellers will be greatly expanded by the end of June, it said, adding that the first batch of flights will be available for reservation in the booking systems from May 14. "I am proud of our decision to have Mumbai as one of the first destinations for increasing our long- haul services. It reflects the robust demand for flights to and from India, even in these unprecedented times. "While we fully understand and respect the Indian government's final call as to when this can take place, resuming flights to Mumbai underlines our confidence in how the Indian government is handling the pandemic crisis," George Ettiyil, Senior Director Sales, South Asia, Lufthansa Group said. 14/05/20 PTI/Outlook 3 Unless Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces that India has conducted a surgical strike, the Indian Armed forces seldom share their recon missions to the public. News usually involves exchange of fire with Pakistan's army across the border or a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir. However, Twitter user Anurag Dixit has shared a fascinating thread of an Indian ELINT aeroplane went inside 100 kms in Pakistan territory, stayed there for 12-15 minutes. In his thread, Dixit adds, the plane 'made a fool of their air defence completely and came back. So much so for world's greatest army and its nation.' Normally I won't tweet about Indian missions based on RUMINT or classified info but since this had its footprint on public internet (intentionally so?) This needs to be told to everyone, especially since this "mission" brutally exposed Paxtan's so called air defence, thread 1/n Dixit said that the news was flagged by an Indian Open-Source intelligence community (OSINT). These communities collect data from publicly available sources to be used in an intelligence context. ELNIT is electric intelligence and the aircraft was a Boeing 707-337, according to Dixit. Notably, the United States Department of Defence defined the term “signals intelligence” as a category of intelligence comprising either individually or in combination all communications intelligence (COMINT), electronic intelligence (ELINT), and foreign instrumentation signals intelligence (FISINT), however transmitted and such intelligence which is derived from communications, electronic, and foreign instrumentation signals. Satellite-based intelligence- gathering dates back to just after the Second World War. Did an Indian ELINT aeroplane enter Pakistan airspace? Check out this Twitter user's fascinating thread 14/05/20 Free Press Journal New Delhi: Cabin crew members of Indian airlines will have personal protective equipment (PPE) like face shields, gowns and masks as part of their attire on commercial passenger flights when they resume operations, industry sources said. India is under lockdown since March 25 to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, and all scheduled commercial passenger flights remain suspended. Airlines such as IndiGo, Air India, Vistara and AirAsia India have decided to go with the new attire in order to ensure safety of cabin crew members as they are in close proximity to passengers during flights, the sources said. 14/05/20 Deepak Patel/Business Insider New Delhi: Middle row seats in planes are unlikely to be kept vacant when domestic flights resume, violating social distancing norms. The government is finalising the standard operating procedure (SOP) for airlines after flight services resume in a graded manner. The draft was prepared after discussions with stakeholders, including airlines and airport operators. Comments have been sought from the stakeholders, according to sources. The draft document is silent on leaving the middle seat vacant as airlines warned the fares would be more for the other passengers to compensate for the empty seat. Aviation regulator DGCA had suggested airlines leave the middle seats vacant when commercial flight services were suspended in March. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security had also proposed that when airlines resume services on domestic routes they must not sell tickets for the middle seat, and the last three rows should be kept vacant in case a passenger needs to be quarantined mid-flight.