At the Bird Group Leadership Initiative webinar ‘Covid 2020 & Beyond’ held on 14th April 2020, senior leaders from Aviation and Tourism industry brainstormed on short and long term measures to revitalize the aviation and hospitality sectors that are severely hit by the Covid-19 and the subsequent country-wide lockdown impairing all economic activity. The session was introduced by Dr. Ankur Bhatia, Executive Director, Bird Group, who set the context for the discussion. The valued recommendations by the panel are being put forward to the concerned departments in the government.
The webinar session was moderated by Mr Rajeev Talwar, MD DLF Ltd and Former ADG Tourism and had the following as panellists:
- Ashwani Lohani (Former CMD Air India and Chairman, AP Tourism)
- Ajay Singh (CMD, SpiceJet)
- Tulsi Mirchandaney (MD, Blue Dart Aviation Ltd)
- Sujit Banerjee (Secretary General, WTTC II)
- Sanat Kaul (Chairman, International Foundation for Aviation Aerospace and Drones) –
- Jyoti Mayal (President TAAI)
Emphasizing on augmentation in government and private sector association to tackle the ongoing crisis, Radha Bhatia, Chairperson, Bird Group, summed up the discussion.
The panel deliberated on the crisis faced by the industry and reached to the conclusion that an increased focus on domestic travel with enhanced check on variable costs to drive revenues in aviation business coupled with mandatory health checks before boarding a flight, and bringing aviation turbine fuel under GST are some of the steps needed to help the travel and aviation sector bounce back.
The panellists were unanimous in their assessment that aviation and tourism are amongst the hardest hit in the current crisis, and would require substantial government support to remain viable and ride out the rough patch till normal traffic resumes. Some key suggestions from the panellists which have been shared with the Government are:–
- Since aviation, tourism and hospitality are amongst the largest employers, revival of these industries is vital to prevent large scale job losses and the resulting burden on government.
- Bringing ATF under GST, reduction of excise duty on it.
- All lending institutions give a roll-over of 2 years for all loans outstanding as on March 1st, 2020 to all operators of tourism, hospitality and transport.
- To make travelling economical and to benefit all stakeholders, new method of allotment of slots / airport concessions should be worked on to remove multiple layers of cost to the traveller.
- Waiver of rentals, parking charges and similar levies by airports till revival.
- Employer portion of EPF contribution to be catered for notional deposit by the government for next two years. This will give relief to the employers without any immediate economic impact on the government.
- Leverage, incentivize “Aas Paas Tourism” or domestic tourism till adequate confidence for international tourist arrivals is built up
- Revise travel and hospitality protocols catering to protection against infection and restore confidence amongst tourists
- Utilize surplus payload of passenger aircraft due to empty seats required for social distancing by increasing cargo loads in them
- GST waivers on travel services
- Reduction on charges for credit card / e-payment transactions
- Industry status to Aviation, Tourism, and Hospitality sectors
- Increase dependence on automation to reduce vulnerability due to disruptions
- Move from profit maximisation towards sustainability
- Inter and intra industry collaborations to return to normalcy in the shortest timeframe
These recommendations from the leading voices representing the travel, tourism, and aviation sectors are being shared with the government, and it is hoped that they would receive due consideration of the government while deliberating on the relief packages / plans.
