The COVID-19 pandemic will bankrupt most of the global airlines by the end of May, only coordinated government and industry action can prevent the occurrence of such a situation, warned an aviation consultant.
According to a statement by the aviation consultancy, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), the outbreak of the coronavirus and travel restrictions imposed by countries to mitigate the spread can have far-reaching consequences for the aviation sector.
Many airlines have probably already been driven into technical bankruptcy, or are at least substantially in breach of debt covenants. Also, the cash reserves are running low as fleets are either grounded or not operating to its maximum capacity.
Normality is not yet on the horizon, CAPA said.
This comes as the world’s three airline alliances â Star Alliance, Oneworld and SkyTeam, which represent almost 60 airlines around the world that contribute more than half of global airline capacity â sought the support of the governments to overcome the crisis.
The consultancy stressing on the ‘catastrophe’ situation warned that the governments are failing in their efforts to cooperate while fighting the challenges of coronavirus.
‘Each nation is adopting the solution that appears best suited to it, right or wrong, without consideration of its neighbours or trading partners,’ CAPA said, citing the travel ban imposed by US President Trump on flights to and from European countries.
The report has come when airlines across the globe are cutting flights and grounding aircraft due to various travel restrictions imposed by countries in an attempt to contain the outbreak of the virus.
Even before the Indian government announced its decision to close the country from Friday and the current ban, several foreign and international carriers had cancelled over 500 flights to and from India.
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