Will Indian airlines skyrocket in 2020 after a turbulent 2019?

For the Indian aviation industry, 2019 was a turbulent one. The year saw Jet Airways (India) Ltd shut operations in April. For the rest of the industry, the anticipated increase in fares owing to Jet Airways’ demise fell short of estimates.

Further, specific problems for InterGlobe Aviation Ltd and SpiceJet Ltd led to a miserable September quarter financial performance. InterGlobe runs IndiGo, India’s largest airline by market share.

For IndiGo, maintenance costs had increased sharply, whereas SpiceJet continues to suffer due to unabsorbed costs from the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft. The upshot: profitability for the half- year ended September isn’t looking very handsome.