On an average, one scheduled airline has gone out of business every year since private airlines took to the skies nearly three decades ago, with Wadia Group-owned GoFirst the latest carrier battling financial turmoil to survive. The first private airline to go belly up was East West Travels & Trade Link Limited, which ceased operations in November 1996 after almost two years. In the same year, Modiluft Ltd also went out of business. According to official data, since 1994, the year private airlines took off in the country, at least 27 scheduled carriers have either closed or merged with other carriers.
While the country’s domestic aviation sector is marching ahead with a strong traffic recovery post the pandemic, GoFirst Pratt & Whitney is grappling with a severe financial crunch due to engine unavailability, which has resulted in the grounding of more than half of its fleet . three scheduled airlines – Zexxus Air Services Pvt Ltd, which operates as Zoom Air; Deccan Chartered Pvt Ltd and Air Odisha Aviation Pvt Ltd – shut shop in 2020, while Heritage Aviation Pvt Ltd will stop flying in 2022.
Once a full service carrier, Jet Airways ceased operations in April 2019, grappling with a financial crisis and is yet to resume operations even though a winning bidder has been put through the insolvency resolution process. have been found Jet Lite (formerly known as Sahara Airlines) ceased operations in 2019.
Kingfisher Airlines Limited was another major player in 2012 that was forced to ground. Earlier, in 2008, Kingfisher Airlines had acquired Deccan Aviation Private Limited (Air Deccan). The latter was a pioneer of low-cost air travel in the country.
In 2017, at least five carriers went bust – Air Carnival Pvt Ltd, Air Pegasus Pvt Ltd, Religare Aviation Ltd, Air Costa and Quikjet Cargo Airlines Pvt Ltd Deccan Cargo & Express Logistics Pvt Ltd (2014), Aryan Cargo Express (2011) ) ), Paramount Airways (2010), MDLR Airlines Pvt Ltd (2009), Jagson Airlines Ltd (2008) and Indus Airways Pvt Ltd (2007) are among other carriers that shut down.
While two airlines went belly up in 1996, NEPC Micon Ltd and Skyline NEPC Ltd (formerly known as Damania Airways Ltd) ceased operations in 1997. According to official figures, Lufthansa Cargo India Pvt Ltd stopped flying in 2000.
Go First, which has been flying for more than 17 years, has filed for voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings and canceled all its flights for three days from Wednesday. The airline is the second major scheduled carrier after Jet Airways that is likely to undergo the resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
After being pushed into insolvency proceedings by its lenders, Jet Airways has found its new owner Jalan Kalrock Consortium (JKC), but the ownership transfer has been left hanging amid continuing differences between the lenders and the winning bidder.
India is one of the fastest growing civil aviation markets in the world and the number of passengers is increasing. State-owned Air India and Air India Express were acquired by the Tata group in January last year. Currently, all carriers are private except the state-owned Alliance Air.
About Go First Sanjeev Kapoor, who recently resigned as Jet Airways’ CEO-designate, on Wednesday said it was sad to see yet another airline suspending its operations. “This is apart from the long delay in getting jets off the ground again. This is not good for consumers, leading to concentration of such a huge market to only 2 or 3 players. Need at least 4 strong airlines is,” he said. said in a series of tweets.
According to him, a market of this size and complexity should have at least two strong full service carriers (FSCs) and two or three strong low cost carriers (LCCs).
“By ‘robust’ airlines, I mean well-capitalised, well-managed airlines that run safe, reliable and efficient operations with well-maintained aircraft, well-trained crews and consistent service, generating customer preference.” and thereby create value for all stakeholders.” he said.
When the government repealed the Air Corporations Act, 1953 in March 1994, the monopoly of the corporations in the field of scheduled air transport services was ended. The move marked the liberalization of domestic air transport services allowing the entry of private operators. Back in May 1953, with the enactment of the Air Corporations Act, 1953, the government nationalized the airline industry.
Two air corporations—the Indian Airlines Corporation and Air India International—were established and the assets of all the then nine air companies were transferred to the two new corporations.