View: How India can keep its airlines afloat

In the past decade, the Indian aviation industry has seen two airlines – KingfisherNSE -11.11 % and Jet AirwaysNSE 4.91 % – crumble from the status of commanding the second-highest position in the market to filing for bankruptcy in a matter of months. These cases are symptomatic of a larger industry trend that is highly turbulent and uncertain. The combined operating profits of all scheduled Indian carriers turned red in 2018-19 for the first time since 2015-16. The situation seems bleak for the current financial year as well, with oil prices poised to rise further due to adverse global conditions and a few airlines continuing to suffer from the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max.

The poor industry performance seems surprising considering the fact that the domestic demand for air travel in India is witnessing a healthy growth.