India’s airlines: Cruising through crises…

It has been a roller coaster ride for Indian aviation in the last few months. When Jet Airways on May 20 last got the clearance to restart operations, the news brought some cheers. The airline had temporarily ceased operations in April 2019. On June 21, the new start-up airline Akasa Air received the first of the 72 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft that it has ordered. The airline is to start commercial operations from August 7.

However, June and July dampened the mood a bit. The SpiceJet aircraft reported a series of technical problems in a span of three weeks and IndiGo, which controls a domestic market share of over 50%, saw its schedules disrupted when in early July its staff took mass casual leave. Over 50% of IndiGo’s flights were disrupted in a day.