‘3rd wave has Airlines fly into red with `20K cr net losses this year'

MUMBAI: Hit by the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and soaring fuel prices, airlines are flying towards record losses with a likely loss of a whopping Rs 20,000 crore for the full fiscal year, warns a report.

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The airlines are flying towards their steepest-ever net loss of over Rs 20,000 crore this fiscal, which will be 44 per cent more than Rs 13,853 crore they bled last fiscal, Crisil said in a report.

This will push back the industry’s recovery beyond fiscal 2023, the report based on three large listed airlines--Indigo, Spicejet, and Air Indiawhich together command 75 per cent of the domestic traffic, warned.

Air traffic had seen a swift recovery after the second wave and reached 86 per cent of the pre-pandemic level in December 2021 compared over December 2019, while regular international flights were expected to start after January 2022.