Coronavirus impact: Over 29 lakh jobs at risk in Indian aviation, says IATA

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said that coronavirus crisis is expected to negatively impact over 29,32,900 lakh aviation jobs in India. In addition, India may see a fall in air travel demand by half in 2020 as against 2019, implying a drop of over Rs 85,000 crore in revenue this year as compared to the last year, IATA added. A fall of 47 per cent has been seen in passenger traffic amid coronavirus crisis. The global aviation sector is expected to see more damage if the governments don't ensure that the airlines have adequate cash to face flow, it also said in the report.

IATA identified India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand as the countries that need to take immediate action. "The situation is deteriorating. Airlines are in survival mode. They face a liquidity crisis with a USD 61 billion cash burn in the second quarter," Conrad Clifford, IATA's Regional Vice President (Asia-Pacific) said.

On April 14, IATA said that coronavirus crisis would see global airline passenger revenues drop by $314 billion this year, a fall of 55 per cent compared to 2019. The airlines in the Asia-Pacific region would record the largest revenue drop, it had said.

"Providing support for airlines has a broader economic implication. Jobs across many sectors will be impacted if airlines do not survive the COVID-19 crisis. Every airline job supports another 24 in the travel and tourism value chain. In Asia-Pacific, 11.2 million jobs are at risk, including those that are dependent on the aviation industry, such as travel and tourism," Conrad Clifford also said.

Also read: Coronavirus India Live Updates: Saved India from stage-3, says Health Minister; Country's tally past 23,000

Also read: Why Britannia Industries share price is rising in a falling market