Airlines which were ideally expecting to ring in the holiday season with festive flourish may instead have to deal with a rude shock, courtesy the weather.
Dense fog has gripped North and East India and heavy snowfall has crippled international air travel, thus, throwing airline schedules off gear. Airlines are expected to lose Rs. 20-50 crore due to this.
"With weather playing havoc, you have to suffer losses due to delay, re-routing getting to an airport where you don’t have facilities...all this account for losses and Rs. 20-50 crore is an average which airlines lose during the fog period," said Ankur Bhatia, executive director of Bird Group.
Long haul international operations too are not faring well. Reeling under intense snow in Europe and US, Indian carriers had to cancel flights as operations are being brought to a standstill.
Airlines are providing refunds for the ticket for flights which were cancelled. Also, pilots of domestic airlines are not trained to land in low visibility conditions.
"Technology can’t work up to certain extent ...if visibility drops further then it becomes difficult. Every international airport has some problem," said Bhatia.
It will take some time for airlines to return to normalcy after the fog season, causing further losses – meaning the new calendar year is unlikely to begin with any festive cheer for most airlines.
Dense fog has gripped North and East India and heavy snowfall has crippled international air travel, thus, throwing airline schedules off gear. Airlines are expected to lose Rs. 20-50 crore due to this.
"With weather playing havoc, you have to suffer losses due to delay, re-routing getting to an airport where you don’t have facilities...all this account for losses and Rs. 20-50 crore is an average which airlines lose during the fog period," said Ankur Bhatia, executive director of Bird Group.
Long haul international operations too are not faring well. Reeling under intense snow in Europe and US, Indian carriers had to cancel flights as operations are being brought to a standstill.
Airlines are providing refunds for the ticket for flights which were cancelled. Also, pilots of domestic airlines are not trained to land in low visibility conditions.
"Technology can’t work up to certain extent ...if visibility drops further then it becomes difficult. Every international airport has some problem," said Bhatia.
It will take some time for airlines to return to normalcy after the fog season, causing further losses – meaning the new calendar year is unlikely to begin with any festive cheer for most airlines.
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