Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, cited the substantial losses faced by airlines due to the impact of the Coronavirus on the aviation sector. Despite this scenario, he noted that airlines have operated on a sustainable model.
In response to a question raised by IUML MP ET Mohammed Basheer about airfare hikes and whether the government has any control over it, Jyotiraditya Scindia said, ‘Civil aviation is a seasonal sector. You have a high season and a low season. From October till mid-January, it’s a high season, after which it’s a low season until May or June, after when the holiday season starts.’
‘This is not limited to India alone; this is a global phenomenon. We have monitored fares, and we have a tariff monitoring unit that looks at 60 routes randomly,’ he added.
He further stated that airlines have incurred losses ranging from about Rs 55,000 crores to Rs 1,32,000 crores on an annual basis recently. ‘COVID has completely destroyed the financial viability of airlines, still, our airlines have operated on a very sustainable basis,’ Scindia said.
