Opinion | How India could revive two birds in one stroke

Airlines have been gasping for survival across the world ever since the covid pandemic grounded aircraft and suffocated demand for air travel. Airports were seen as transmission hubs right from the outbreak’s onset; and recent reports that the risk of airborne coronaviral infection in enclosed spaces may be higher than estimated earlier have done little for the confidence of would-be flyers. In India, even though air carriers have been allowed to resume only partial services, their occupancy levels are reported to be in a pale range of about half on high-traffic routes to roughly two-thirds on flights that link destinations that are hard to reach overland. Flights are being called off, too. According to OAG, a UK-based travel data provider, only 1.3 million seats were on offer this week, half the figure last week. With post-lockdown revenues failing to gain altitude, now that stranded passengers have presumably reached home, some airlines are looking for novel ways to attract custom. Earlier this week, the Tata-Singapore Airlines joint venture Vistara began offering the option of buying an adjoining seat to keep vacant on its flights. The idea has caught on, it seems, and a sub-market for onboard social distancing may soon emerge. IndiGo and SpiceJet might also start selling empty middle seats as add-ons at “dynamic" discounts (determined by market conditions), to lure those who are uneasy about flying too closely with strangers.

Onboard distancing should ideally have been mandated by India’s regulator of civil aviation. It would have been consistent with the government’s advisories on public safety. Since market demand for spaced-out seating is now in evidence, however, amends could yet be made. This could be done in a way that achieves two objectives in a single stroke. Rather than intervene to enforce an onboard distancing rule, it should snap up the middle seats on all domestic flights to keep empty. This would serve the cause of safe flying while also acting as a bailout package for cash-strapped airlines. Most of these carriers had flown into rough weather even before they encountered the air pocket of April and March, a phase in which they had to meet fixed expenses without any money coming in, barred as their operations were by a government order. Like all businesses forced to shut, they deserved some compensation. But the government’s finances have been so overstretched that its rescue efforts so far have had to be highly selective. If airlines are to be bailed out, one might ask, why not firms in other badly hit sectors such as hospitality?

There are two good reasons. For one, aviation counts as a crucial support service in every economy, including ours. Like telecom, the quick connectivity it allows is an enabler of economic growth. For another, it is a market for whose survival and prosperity the government bears extra responsibility. Since aviation uses public resources—air corridors, airport infrastructure, etc—that are scarce, it is a licensed category. Unlike hospitality, this market has big state-imposed entry barriers; new carriers cannot rush in to replace those that go belly up. Also, its operational dependence on the State is especially high. This means that the sector deserves special attention. Today, even a single airline’s exit would impair competition. An oligopoly could take hold. Let aviation not succumb to neglect.

Source: https://www.livemint.com/