Revenue of India's airlines falls by Rs.21,886 cr in April-June 2020 compared to last year

On Thursday, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri revealed that revenue of Indian carriers reduced to Rs.3651 crore in April-June 2020 in comparison to Rs.25,517 crore in same period last year. Explaining impact of COVID-19 on aviation sector in response to numerous unstarred questions, he ted that Air India's revenue h reduced from Rs.7,066 crore in April-June 2019 to Rs.1,531 crore during April-June 2020. Observing that Airports Authority of India was likely to register a loss in Financial Year 2020-21, Puri stated that it h taken Fund Based Working Facility of Rs.1,500 crore from State Bank of India.

On or hand, Air India and Air India Express earned Rs.2,021 crore and Rs.415 crore respectively from Vande Bharat flights up to August 31. employment at airlines, airports, ground handling ncies and cargo operators has reduced by 5298, 3246, 8466 and 1017 respectively from March 31-July 31, 2020. Mentioning that restrictions on international airlines continue, Civil Aviation Minister reiterated that India has entered into Air Bubble agreements with USA, Cana, UK, France, Germany, Maldives, UAE, Qatar, Afghanistan and Bahrain. According to him, Centre h taken several steps to help aviation sector such as route rationalization and reduction in GST rate for domestic Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul services.

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COVID-19 crisis

At vent of COVID-19 crisis, passenger international air travel was suspended with effect from March 22. Meanwhile, domestic flight operations stopped from midnight of March 24. Meanwhile, Centre commenced Vande Bharat mission on May 7 to bring back Indian nationals stranded abro. From May 25, domestic air operations were allowed in a calibrated manner. Initially, only 33% of summer schedule was permitted to operate which was subsequently increased to 45% on June 26, 2020, and 60% on September 2, 2020. 

Currently, re are 51,18,253 confirmed vel coronavirus cases in India out of which 40,25,079 patients have recovered while 83,198 fatalities have been reported. re are 10,09,976 active cases in country. With 82,961 patients recovering in last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 recovery rate soared to 78.61%. At present, recovered cases outnumber active cases by 30,15,103.

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(Im credits: PTI)