Flying Overseas? What Are The Airlines Up To?

India has finally lifted all restrictions on overseas travel. The airlines, though, are slowly getting back their schedule. The international airlines too are getting their India act together. First off the blocks, as usual, are the gulf carriers. A special report by AMEYA JOSHI

- Ameya Joshi

0n March 27, as the IATA (International) scheduling season made a transition from Northern Winter to Northern Summer, it was a momentous occasion in India. After over two years of remaining shut, the scheduled international air service commenced without restrictions.

This came after a false start in December 2021, when the announcements were done but were rolled back at the last minute as the world was hit by fast-spreading Omicron variant and though the impact on India was less, the chances of spread led to a cautious a decision to continue with suspension.

The decision to open up was backed by the Ministry of health and family welfare (MOHFW) dropping the quarantine requirements and instead moving to just monitoring.

What does it mean for the major players in the Indian market?

Between 20 percent to 35 percent of expenditure of airlines in India is dollar-denominated. This means that any fluctuation in the rupee will have an adverse impact on the balance sheet of airlines. International operations with sales coming in from foreign shores guarantee certain inflow of foreign currency which can buffer the impact of sliding rupee to an extent.

IndiGo

While the airline has always talked about grand plans internationally, only 8.83 percent of its total scheduled departures were international in 2019 the last full year of operations before pandemic. Yet the very nature of international operations is such that this translated to 21.35 percent of capacity by ASK (Available Seat Kilometres).