Flight occupancy and fresh bookings have dropped over ten per cent in last few days as individuals and corporates defer trips. International travel is already hit due to a series of visa restrictions.
Airlines sought a limited period concession of the standing rule of slot allocation, which mandates that firms must operate at least 80 per cent of their allocated slots.
"We have found that a couple of international airlines are not adhering to the rules. Failure to adhere to rules shall entail strict action," said Director General of Civil Aviation Arun Kumar.
Executives of Indian airlines said that the drop is primarily for flights to major metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, which are the prime revenue generators on the domestic front.
Travel restrictions are in place only for a limited number of countries but people are cancelling or postponing travel to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Reduction in fuel price was supposed to bring back good luck for Indian airlines. But with the global spread of coronavirus, airlines are being forced to rejig their network, cut flights, and delay launches.
Over 50 per cent of all traffic to Jeddah consists pilgrims headed to Mecca and Medina.
Apart from the Adani group, the Tata group, the Hinduja group, Indigo and a New York-based fund, Interups, are expected to submit EoIs.
Air India, IndiGo, and SpiceJet have suspended flights to China and Hong Kong.
The new flights come against the backdrop of the Indian government's move to boost air connectivity with Central Asia and tap the interest of Russian investors in India.
A Russian fund submitted its interest to the resolution professional on February 14 and also hired a consultancy firm to help them with the bidding process.
The new service by American Airlines will provide connectivity to tech hubs in both the countries.
Curtailment of flights between India and China will help Air India and other airlines to boost their seat occupancy and market share.
A loss of revenue from liquor sales will have to be compensated through increased landing and parking charges on airlines, which, in turn, will pass on the cost to flyers.
South America-based Synergy Group, one of the suitors, has said slots at London's Heathrow airport are critical to the airline's operations and will decide on participating in the resolution only if it gets clarity. It also wants to form a new company with its assets, employees, and operating permit but minus all liabilities.
With over 700,000 annual passengers and 21 per cent market share Air India is the largest carrier on India-United Kingdom routes.
DGCA has also permitted the airline to deploy newly-inducted planes for capacity expansion.
Improvement in load factors, coupled with an increase in seat capacity after Jet's slots were allotted to low-cost airlines, has resulted in an increase in daily passenger traffic.
Airports levy charges such as FTC, infrastructure charge, and into-plane charges on sale of jet fuel. The levy is passed through to airlines, pushing up costs.
The airline is strengthening its flight operations department to make this happen.
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