On resumption of international flights: Skies wide open

News: Government from next month will allow scheduled commercial international flights to resume operations. This will come as a big relief to the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors, which have been among the hardest hit by the pandemic. 

How has been the tourism and aviation sector been affected by the pandemic? 

The tourism and hospitality industry supports the aviation sector for its earnings and jobs growth, which was hit hard due to the COVID-19 and the accompanying curbs on overseas travel and domestic mobility.

According to the Official data show that in just nine months from march 2020 to December 2020, 21.5 million jobs were lost in tourism.  

How will the Ukrainian crisis impact the tourism and aviation sector? 

Oil prices have been soaring due to fears of disruptions to global energy supply chains. 

– As a result, aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices have also jumped by almost 60% year-on-year. Fuel costs typically constitute about one fifth of a global airline’s operating expenditure and will definitely hurt the profit margin available to airlines. 

A range of commodities have seen a sharp jump in prices, this will lead to high inflation across the globe and will also affect the cost of overseas travel. 

Economic uncertainty triggered by the conflict in Eastern Europe and the residual fear among travellers of new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus will make revival of tourism and aviation sector tough. 

What is the way forward? 

Although restoring visitor confidence through enforcement of COVID-19 protocols and widening vaccination coverage is a positive step.

Government must also consider lowering ATF prices by cutting duties. 

Source: This post is based on the article “Skies Wide open” published in The Hindu on 12th Mar 22.