The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the economy of the Indian aviation sector as more than 19,000 people lost their jobs in the industry during the last two years.
Nearly 10 percent of the total workforce faced job losses, the Union Aviation Minister
Jyotiraditya Scindia informed Rajya Sabha in a written reply.
The total number of airline employees in India has declined to around 65,600 as of December 2021 from nearly 74,800 people in March 2020. Similarly, around 7,700 people lost jobs in the airport sector with a total number of employees in the airport sector at around 65,700 as of December 31, 2021.
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.
First Published: Mar 29, 2022 9:36 AM IST
