INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
suspended to curb the spread of Covid-19, according to aviation consultants and senior industry executives.
These funds, along with some
short-term loans, are helping airlines stay afloat, they said
states want the shutdown to be extended
Kerala, for instance, is considering a plan to suspend all flights until the end of May, except for emergency travel
All domestic flights were halted from midnight on March 24, with overseas services having been suspended before that.
Travel Demand may
above.
Travel demand is likely to be at an all-time low for several months after restrictions ease, they said, given fears of contagion in
enclosed spaces.
Bookings being made now for the May-June period are down 80% from the year earlier, Sydney-based consultant CAPA-Centre for
Aviation said in a recent note
CAPA also said it will take up to 12 months after curbs are lifted in India for the entire fleet of 650 planes to be flying again.
Indian
carriers are dependent on advance ticket sales
All of them have kept PNRs active for future travel
Close to 75% of these are for flights till the end of June
GoAir and IndiGo have told passengers that their PNRs will remain active for a year
SpiceJet has said they can be redeemed until February 2021 and Air India until September 2020.
Airlines will have to rework schedules once
restrictions are lifted with a likely staggered re-launch of services depending on demand and where they are allowed to fly
Many carriers will operate a skeletal network
Redeeming credit vouchers could be troublesome, especially for those bookings made through travel agents, said some of the people cited
It has referred many to the travel agents they used.
GoAir has upgraded its payment system to enable redemptions and rescheduling
irrespective of how the the ticket was booked, said senior advisor Sanjiv Kapoor.
Balu Ramachandran, air business head at online travel
There is no money in our settlement accounts as new tickets are also not being purchased
prior to the lockdown and decision to allow bookings post April 14 without any decision of the lifting of lockdown will increase the risks
CAPA said in the advisory.
