More than 19,000 people lost jobs in Indian aviation sector during COVID

The total number of employees in the ground handling sector has also declined to around 27,600 as of December 31, 2021, from around 30,800 as of March 31, 2020.

However, the cargo segment of Indian aviation witnessed an increase in business and a rise in employee strength during the last two years. The employee strength in the air cargo sector has increased to around 10,500 in December 2021 from around 9,600 in March 2020.

Consequent to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, airline operations were suspended in March 2020 in the country. Based on the improvement in the COVID situation, a calibrated resumption of domestic operations was allowed in May 2020. The capacity deployment restrictions were completely lifted in October 2021 and scheduled passenger international flights have also resumed from March 27, 2022.

Fare caps, or government-monitored upper and lower airfares, are still in place.