Indian aviation industry has suffered a loss of INR 116.58bn in FY 2021-22 as per the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation records.
The losses to the industry were primarily because of the Covid-induced disruption across the globe; currency depreciation; high operating cost environment, especially due to increase in ATF prices which constitute a major portion of the operational cost of airline; increase in crude oil prices in international market; VAT; excise duty; and the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war.
The ministry records further clarified that the actual figure of the loss to the aviation sector will be known only when the audited accounts are available at the end of the financial year 2022-23.
The airlines and major airports are operated by the private sector and they evolve their own SOPs for cost minimisation and profitability.
The Indian aviation sector incurred a loss of INR 47.40bn in FY 2019-20 and INR 12.47bn in FY 2020-21.