The Indian aviation industry was able to breathe a little easier in 2021 as domestic flight operations got their pre-pandemic levels even though international services continued to stay curtailed due to Covid-related journeys restrictions.
Air India’s deal with the Tata Group and
Air India's deal with the Tata Group and arrival of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed new airline Akasa Air in 2021 are likely to introduce more competition and modify the dynamics of the Indian aviation sector in the coming years.
Both — capacity restriction and fare limits — were set by the MoCA from May 25, 2020, when scheduled domestic flights continued behind a two-month-long break due to COVID-Though the MoCA declared on November 26 that scheduled international flights would continue from December 15, the decision was discontinued on December 1 in the wake of the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus.
Directorate General of Civil Aviation
With US-based aircraft manufacturer Boeing making all required software rectifications in the 737 Max plane to the joy of Indian aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the banning on the aircraft’s commercial flight operations was raised after 27 months.
- All Max planes were grounded in India by DGCA on March 13, 2019, three days after the impact of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max plane near Addis Ababa, which had killed 157 people, including four Indians.
Akasa Air — the new airline approved by ace investor Jhunjhunwala and aviation veterans Aditya Ghosh and Vinay Dube — got the no-objection certificate (NOC) from the MoCA to launch commercial flight operations in the first half of August.
With the DGCA giving its green light to Max aircraft in late August, Akasa Air signed a deal with Boeing on November 26 to purchase 72 Max aircraft.
Aviation consultancy
Aviation consultancy firm CAPA told last month that the disruption in the Indian aviation sector due to Akasa Air will maybe be handled from 2024-25 onwards “once it has the scale and reaches a competitive price base”.
SpiceJet registered a net loss of Rs 935 crore and Rs 998 crore in 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively. In the first six months of the recent financial year, the airline has published a net loss of Rs 1,290 crore.
Sections of SpiceJet’s employees went on strike outside the Delhi airport on September 3 and November 2 protesting against reduced salaries and its irregular disbursement.
SpiceJet chairperson and managing director Ajay Singh had informed PTI in October that employees were being paid their total salaries on time and all issues connected to their pays have been resolved.
SpiceJet is the only airline in India that
SpiceJet is the only airline in India that has Max planes — 13 of them — in its fleet nowadays. In November, the budget carrier told it had agreed with Boeing to settle remarkable claims connected to the grounding of 737 Max aircraft and its service comeback.
CAPA said that risks for SpiceJet would remain “elevated without serious recapitalization” and “long-term stability” could be achieved with recapitulation.
After much struggle over the years, the Narendra Modi government was finally able to successfully able to sell debt-laden Air India in 2021 to a private entity.
On October 8, the Centre declared that Talace Private Limited — a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons — has beaten a consortium led by Ajay Singh by offering Rs 18,000 crore to win the bid to acquire Air India.
Air India is expected to be ultimately given over to the Tata group in the first quarter of 2022. Tata Group already owns and manages two airlines — Vistara and Air Asia — in India.
- It is unclear if Vistara would be combined with Air India or not
Similarly, it is unclear whether Air India Express — Air India’s wholly-owned subsidiary that operates narrow-body aircraft only — will be merged with budget carrier AirAsia India or not. On July 8, Jyotiraditya Scindia took charge as the Civil Aviation Minister replacing Hardeep Singh Puri.
Aviation minister jyotiraditya scindia
Under Scindia’s charge, the MoCA has given a major push to the drone industry.
- The MoCA on September 15 agreed with a PLI scheme for drones and drone components with an allocation of Rs 120 crore spread over three financial years.
The PLI scheme came up as a follow-through of the liberalized Drone Rules, 2021, released by the MoCA on August 25.
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The Indian drone industry will have a total turnover of up to Rs 15,000 crore by 2026 as the government has given a major increase to the sector with the PLI scheme and the liberalized rules, Scindia had said on September 16.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in June approved the Jalan Kalrock Consortium’s resolution plan for Jet Airways, two years after the once-storied full-service carrier went into insolvency proceedings.
Earlier this month, the winning consortium of Jet Airways told it wants to infuse funds in the airline and has come to the NCLT to fast-track implementation of the resolution plan approved by the insolvency court in June this year.
The consortium, in a statement, also told it plans to continue domestic operations at the most earlier in 2022 as a full-service carrier.
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Source: The Hindu
