𝐈𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐯𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐰 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫.

Although the pandemic has impacted industries hard, the aviation industry was among the world's worst-hit in 2020. In India, when the Covid-19 lockdown was enforced in March, air travel was limited. Since May 25, scheduled domestic flights have been resumed in a restricted way.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had a huge effect on the Indian aviation industry, and major airlines facing losses and tough times laid off staff sent them on leave without pay or reduced their salaries.

In April, AirAsia India cut the wages of its senior staff by up to 20 percent. Starting in April, Vistara launched a seniority-based leave without pay policy for its employees. Indian airlines currently operate domestic flights at approximately 80 percent of their pre-COVID levels. By March 2021, domestic services are projected to hit their pre-COVID levels.

In October, CAPA India predicted that the Indian aviation industry will lose a combined USD 6-6.5 billion in FY21, of which USD 4-4.5 billion will be accounted for by airlines.

It is expected that the revival of overseas travel will be slower and more complex than domestic travel. In particular, this will hurt Air India, as about 60% of its revenue was previously generated from foreign operations.

The October 17 bid to revive Jet Airways was won by a consortium of UAE-based businessman Murari Lal Jalan and London's Kalrock Capital. The airline is expected to start operating by the summer of 2021.

The consortium said it is awaiting NCLT and other regulatory approvals by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, including the reinstatement of slots and bilateral traffic rights (DGCA). Slots are important commodities in the aviation industry, which is the time zone at which a flight can land at the airport, as well as bilateral traffic privileges, the amount of flights that an airline can fly to the city of another country.

Consolidation, along with progress on the disinvestment of Air India, could also be a theme to look out for in the coming year.

In 2021, investors can watch for consolidation in the post-covid world of the aviation market. Eventually, we expect three major groups to survive—IndiGo, the Tatas and SpiceJet Ltd.

The Indian aviation sector is hoping for a much better year compared to 2020, with the anti-coronavirus vaccine likely to begin in 2021. On December 21, India announced that all UK-connected passenger flights will be suspended from December 23 to December 31.

𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐉𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇 𝐢𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎. 𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏?

There were not many open doors that 2020, attacked as it has been by COVID-19, hurled for the Indian Aviation Business. However, every time it did, SpiceJet was presumably leading the squares to lock on to it.

On March 25, the cross-country lockdown happened, bringing to stop every single economic activity, including flight administrations. Ajay Singh-drove carrier turned into the first to run a cargo-on-seat flight, on April 7.

By that point, it had just hauled around 1,400 tons of cargo on 200 Domestic and Worldwide flights, utilizing its devoted cargo fleet. As the aircraft stood out as truly newsworthy for its various cargo flights, the majority of them conveying fundamental essential goods, its stock rose more than 15 percent inside seven days, a lot quicker than the Sensex.

The exact month, the aircraft likewise launched SpiceCare, its air rescue vehicle administration, to consider critical medical necessities of those incapable to head out because of lockdown limitations.

In July, barely a month after Domestic flights restarted in end-May, SpiceJet was assigned as a scheduled transporter to work administrations among India and the UK. It got comparative rights for traveling to the US as well.

On August 1, it operated its 'first wide-body flight' traveling to Amsterdam. A couple of days later, it got slots in London's Heathrow Airport. In October, the carrier declared plans to turn into the principal low-cost airline from the nation to dispatch direct flights to the UK. The scorn was on India's biggest low-cost airline IndiGo, which for since quite a while ago had held London yearnings, however was at this point to begin operations.