The nation's airline company fleet is expected to agreement by 15 to 20 airplane to less than 700 in the existing fiscal year through March 2022, as carriers retire more planes than they induct due to weak traveler need, consultant CAPA said.Indian airline companies are anticipated to induct 69 aircrafts during the year and retire 86 airplane, a few of which could be through foreclosures by lessors, CAPA said throughout a web conference on its outlook for the country's air travel sector.Airlines will also be forced to ground 250-300 aircrafts in the very first half of the existing , CAPA price quotes, as a surge in COVID-19 infections in the South Asian nation previously this year roils air travel.Indian carriers are anticipated to lose $4.1 billion in the current fiscal year on top of a comparable loss in 2015, CAPA price quotes, putting restored pressure on them to raise cash or deal with the risk of needing to scale down, consolidate or have their aircrafts repossessed by lessors.
Lots of operators will have a hard time to recuperate from 2 successive years of such massive losses, CAPA's India head Kapil Kaul said.Even as new infections in India are falling, the speed of vaccinations has been sluggish with only about 5% of adults totally inoculated which could delay a recovery, experts say.Domestic air traffic is expected to rebound this year - rising 51 per cent over last year but it will still be well listed below pre-COVID-19 levels.
International air travel is anticipated to take longer to recover, CAPA said.