Indian Airlines Fly High with Freighter Services

Amid the unprecedented pandemic triggered by the coronavirus which has gripped not only the nation, but has engulfed the world at large, it is the primary responsibility of airlines to take all possible steps to ensure to the extent they can, that the coronavirus does not infect and spread amongst the passengers flying on board the airliners. It is also equally important for the airlines to take appropriate steps to eliminate all possibility of the aircrew, cabin crew, maintenance personnel as also all other members of the staff associated with the operation of the aircraft from being exposed to the menace of this scourge. One measure adopted by operators of airlines the world over to prevent being infected by the coronavirus, is to ensure that the aircraft are properly sanitised to prevent the coronavirus from affecting any passenger or member of the operating staff during travel by the aircraft, its maintenance or ground handling of the aircraft. In the final analysis, the responsibility with the airlines to take appropriate preventive measures against possible infection by coronavirus would lie in the domain of air safety.

ROUTINE SANITISING THE AIRCRAFT

It has been a general practice by airlines so far to have the cabin crew assisted by the ground staff if available, to clean up the aircraft during turn around that is in the period between its arrival in the parking slot on the tarmac after completing one leg of the flight and its taxiing out for the next leg of the flight. However, this cleaning is somewhat peripheral in nature as it involves collection of disposable items or trash from passengers seated for the next leg of the flight or such items left behind by passengers that have already disembarked. But when the aircraft completes its flying task for the day and is back at its permanent base, the process of cleaning which may take up to six hours is certainly much more thorough especially if the aircraft is scheduled to undertake an international flight next. Periodically, an aircraft may even be taken off from flight schedule in order to be subjected to a much more thorough cleaning process. Each of the airlines across the globe have their own cleaning schedules. The aim however, is common which is to give the aircraft interior a fresh or even a new look for its inaugural mission the following day. Apart from deeper scrub, the cabin of the aircraft is treated with some disinfectants as well; but possibly not potent enough to counter the deadly coronavirus.

COPING WITH NEWLY EMERGING THREAT

With the threat of infection by coronavirus that has now spread practically all over the world like a wildfire, it has now become incumbent on airlines across the globe to adopt new and more effective measures to tackle the emerging threat to passengers as also all other personnel associated with the operations of airlines. One method that the airlines have adopted to deal with the situation is better and more effective method of sanitisation of the aircraft especially its interior to ensure it is free of any infecting agent. Airlines in the United States (US) have begun the sanitise the cockpit as well as the cabin of the aircraft in such a way that the crew and passengers can touch any soft or hard surface while boarding the aircraft for a flight, during or disembarking after landing. Parts of the aircraft that are prone to be touched more frequently need to be disinfected. These include armrests, window shades, television screens on the back of seats, folding tray tables, seat belts and clips, overhead bins and lavatories. Some airlines from the US even go to the extent of sanitising catering services and galley equipment especially on international flights. United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Airlines follow the practice of sanitising all of the cutlery, tableware, dishes and glassware before they are washed and made ready to be used again. Any leftovers of food and other consumables are consigned to the waste bin after arrival at destination to ensure that these are not used again.

Sanitising the cabin of the aircraft involves spraying or wiping surfaces by any one disinfectant from the list approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the US. Incidentally, EPA provides not only a range of disinfectants, but vital information very useful for the people at large to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus now dubbed as COVID 19.

USE OF FOG MACHINES

A number

of

carriers amongst which

Delta Airlines is one example, instead of providing mops soaked in disinfectant, use fog machines to spray a high grade disinfectant on the complete surface of the cabin after every flight. The fog machine can effectively coat every part of the cabin with fine aerosol, including the ceiling, seats, trays, floor, lavatories, crew rest areas and galleys. This technique is far more effective as the spray from the fog machine can reach every nook and corner in the cabin which is not possible through wipes. As per the Director of Airport Operations, Delta Airlines, Atlanta the process of fogging is highly effective against many communicable diseases, including the coronavirus. United Airlines is also following this method for its fleet of airliners deployed for international flights.

FILTERING THE AIR INSIDE THE AIRCRAFT

Apart from sanitising the high touch areas in the cabin and the cockpit, it is also necessary to sanitise or more appropriately, purify the air in the cabin that passengers will breathe during the several hours spent on board while on a flight. For this aircraft are equipped with High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters, similar to those used in operation theatres of hospitals. In view of the new threat from coronavirus, this air filtering facility has now acquired significantly greater importance. The HEPA filter is capable of drawing fresh air from outside and replacing the complete volume of air inside the aircraft once every two to four minutes or 15 to 30 times in an hour. This highly efficient filter is capable of removing 99.7 per cent of airborne particles present in the volume of air inside the aircraft. This equipment in effect keeps the air inside the aircraft sanitised.

FRESH MANDATE BY THE DGCA

To cope with the threat of COVID 19, the Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued fresh guidelines on disinfecting aircraft carrying passengers. The latest directive from the regulator lays down the requirement to sanitise the aircraft as follows: “All aircraft shall be subjected to deep cleaning and disinfection at least once in 24 hours. All aircraft shall be subjected to disinfectant during transit halts, when there are no passengers on board. In case of transit passengers being on board during transit halts, at least the lavatories and galleys shall be disinfected.” The regulator has also asked airlines to place hand sanitisers on all aircraft and one or more universal precaution kits to protect the crew, who are at high risk of infection. The regulator has made it mandatory for the crew to wear gloves and masks on flights to countries affected by the virus and has discontinued breath analyser test for aircrew to prevent transmission of the coronavirus.

With the nationwide lockdown and suspension of civil flights, the problem of proper sanitisation of aircraft has now been reduced to only those flights that are being undertaken to evacuate those national stranded abroad. However, with the normalisation of the situation hopefully in not too distant a future, techniques of sanitising of aircraft is an area that will need much greater focus and attention on the part of the management of the civil aviation industry as also the regulatory authorities.

Analysis by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) clearly states that the impact of the outbreak of the pandemic COVID-19, is severely challenging the existence of the global air transport system as never before. While India is comparatively less hit as of now, but with the imposed lockdown, the Indian aviation industry is not far from the adverse impacts. According to IATA, before the outbreak, India‘s air transport industry’s economic contribution was estimated at $35 billion, supporting 6.2 million jobs and contributing 1.5 per cent to GDP in India. However, COVID-19 has led to the destruction of air travel demand on an unprecedented scale. India’s scheduled carriers are currently in grave and immediate danger of insolvency, states IATA. A cessation of operations would trigger a host of serious consequences. The contribution that the airline industry makes to the economy of India is sure to be wiped out if the airline industry collapses. At stake is not merely the survival of the airlines and related industries, but whether a safe, efficient and viable commercial aviation system will be available to contribute to the post-COVID-19 restoration and recovery of trade, travel, and indeed the economy of India itself, points out IATA.

While airlines are trying their best to adopt every measure

possible to mitigate the impact by cutting avoidable costs, the reality is that airlines have substantial fixed costs which cannot be reduced by cutting capacity – salaries need to be paid as do aircraft financing arrangements and other fixed costs. In recent weeks, airlines have been paying out more by way of refunds than they have received in new booking revenues, meaning that their reserves are rapidly depleting. Airlines risk running out of cash in the very near future.

The situation that is in front of all of us is not completely in our hands as lockdowns are the most viable solutions for COVID-19. Hence the airlines have also been shut.

India is currently under lockdown till May 04, 2020, and the situation beyond that remain uncertain too.

“The current lockdown on both domestic and international passenger flights is till May 04, 2020. A decision to restart the flights after this period remains to be taken. If required, we will have to assess the situation on a case by case basis,” Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Civil Aviation of India, said.

Sydney-based Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) estimates that many carriers are likely to go bankrupt by the end of May if they cannot find support and further predicted that about half of all global airlines could go out of business before the end of the year. Bloomberg, determined that among airlines that are in danger of going under are Pakistan International Airlines, SpiceJet, Norwegian, American Airlines, SkyWest, Air Asia, Asiana Airlines, Virgin Australia, Korean Air, China Eastern and China Southern Airlines.

FREIGHTERS FOR THE FIGHT

However, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) permitted airlines to carry cargo in passenger cabin placed on seats, apart from the aircraft belly, so as to accommodate more freight in view of the lockdown and also to manage cost-efficient operations.

“Operations without passengers and with cargo in the passenger compartment will require suitable number of crew members/personnel to survey and access all areas of the cabin during all phases of flight,” stated the DGCA advisory. In line with this, various flights by now have been operated during lockdown period by Air India, Alliance Air, Indian Air Force (IAF), Pawan Hans, IndiGo and SpiceJet.

The IAF has also airlifted over 25 tonnes of medical supplies from Delhi, Surat, and Chandigarh to Manipur, Nagaland and the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh, a statement said. The IAF’s C-17, C-130, An-32, AVRO and Dornier aircraft are being used for the assistance.

The medical supplies include Personal Protective Equipment, hand sanitizers, surgical gloves, thermal scanners and medical personnel.

Other carriers across the world such as Lufthansa, Delta, United and Etihad have also began “passenger freighter” services to aid in earning revenue at a time when passenger demand is falling sharply.

The Minister of Civil Aviation also tweeted, “Stakeholders of our aviation sector are at the forefront of India’s efforts to contain and prevent the spread of Coronavirus. Domestic airlines and cargo operators along with the IAF have so far transported 15.4 tonnes of medical supplies on 62 special flights between March 26 and 30 this year.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation also launched “Lifeline Udan” flights for movement of medical and essential supplies across the country and beyond. A total of 74 flights have been operated as of April 1, 2020, for transporting medical cargo across the country.

As of April 05, cargo hubs created at Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Chennai have been feeding to spokes at Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Agartala, Aizwal, Dimapur, Imphal, Coimbatore, Thiruvananthapuram, Bhubaneswar, Raipur, Ranchi, Srinagar, Port Blair and Goa, as tweeted by Puri.

Till April 05, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and stakeholders have operated a total of 116 flights to transport over 160 tonnes of essential medical equipment and cargo to various corners of the country.

Even while times get tough and the commercial airlines’ business is almost at halt, all carriers of the Indian aviation industry have come forward to transport urgently required cargo. Air India led the mission operating charter flights to move cargo within the country, carrying medical equipments and other essential items.

Domestic cargo operators Blue Dart and Spicejet have also been reported as operating cargo flights on a commercial basis.

Air India had reportedly been operating cargo flights at cost. While it has moved cargo for state governments as well as PSUs transporting essential items to far-flung places in the North East and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the national carrier has also operated special flights to China, Germany, Iran, Israel and is expected to operate more flights to the US, UK and Canada.

As of April 03, Mission Lifeline UDAN had transported almost 20 tonnes of vital medical equipment to various corners of the country with the help of 10 flights by Air India and the IAF.

IndiGo’s relief flight, 6E-9121, operated from Delhi to Jodhpur carrying 139 Indians, who were evacuated from Iran. On April 4, IndiGo operated its first cargo flight from Kolkata to Agartala via Imphal bringing essential medical supplies weighing 1,551 kg.

As of April 04, SpiceJet had operated 109 domestic cargo flights beginning March 24, covering a distance of 1,14,993 km to carry 825 tonnes cargo, while carried 2.33 tonnes of cargo across 4,871 km on five flights on March 03.

As of April 04, Blue Dart had operated 48 domestic cargo flights covering a distance of 45,783 km carrying 702.43 tonnes of cargo between 25 March 25 and April 03, 2020.

MoCA stated on April 4 that so far, 109 flights-covering a distance of over 1,00,000 km hade been operated under Mission Lifeline UDAN to help the nation fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

CONTRIBUTION BY SPICEJET

SpiceJet also decided to put its cargo fleet to optimum use to ensure that supply chain remains intact. The airline has been working closely with state governments to ensure supplies of essential items, medicines, medical equipment and relief material.

As of March 27, the airline reported that its fleet of five dedicated freighters are crisscrossing the country daily and flying to nearby countries including to

those in the Middle-East, South-East Asia, among other places with fresh fruits and vegetables, cold chain medical supplies, medicines, medical devices for various state governments, medical and pharma companies, international retailers and farmer bodies in this joint war against COVID-19. The pilots, engineers, loaders, security personnel operating and assisting these cargo flight operations are continuously working in these unprecedented times.

SpiceJet’s dedicated cargo arm, SpiceXpress, has been doing doorstep deliveries of essential supplies, medicines and medical equipment in Bengaluru, Patna, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Raipur, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Visakhapatnam, Srinagar, Thiruvananthapuram, Vadodara, Kochi, Guwahati, Jammu, Lucknow among other cities.

SpiceJet has also been operating special cargo flights since early March to ferry vital supplies in the fight against coronavirus. SpiceJet also reported helping transport an emergency consignment of IR Thermometres, required to detect COVID-19, to Kolkata from Hong Kong and was to operate more flights. Special cargo flights have also been operated to Gujarat and other states too.

“SpiceJet operated a special charter flight from Delhi to Coimbatore on March 27 on Government’s request. This flight was operated at a very short notice and carried a Hazmat suit. This will help local authorities replicate and start local manufacturing. SpiceJet has offered our aircraft and crew for any humanitarian mission that the government needs us to fly,” said Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet.

He also added that they are already flying food, medicines and medical equipment for the government every day. “We would love to alleviate the suffering of these migrant workers especially those from Bihar by flying some flights between Delhi/Mumbai and Patna.”

Special cargo flights were even operated by SpiceJet to Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and other countries taking fresh fruits and vegetables and helping Indian farmers maintain continuity of their supply chains.

Dedicated freighter services from Chennai and Vishakhapatnam to Surat and Kolkata are in constant operations to help India’s shrimp farmers. Till now, shrimp hatcheries used to face a lot of problems in transporting seeds in the absence of dedicated flights leading to a high mortality rate of shrimp seeds which in turn led to heavy losses.

AIR INDIA CREW AFFECTED

Unfortunately, one of Air India’s cabin crew was recently tested positive. She had reportedly operated one of the evacuation flights between Mumbai and Newark in the United States. Post this, Air India’s cargo handling subsidiary – AI Airport Services (AI APS), had asked 14 of its employees to go into home quarantine. This has led to Air India pilots involved in rescue missions for stranded Indians and those operating chartered flights to rescue foreign nationals amid the coronavirus outbreak raising concerns over safety.

Despite this, the cargo operations continue and in fact, talks are also on regarding operations of cargo flights to China to get medical supplies. “We got the approval for launching the freighter operations to Shanghai from Delhi for two dates – April 04 and 05. We have applied for subsequent dates also and we hope to get those approvals also within a day,” said Air India chief, Rajiv Bansal during a press conference. He said Air India has also got the approval for carrying cargo flight operations to Hong Kong.

Air India is also scheduled to operate 18 charter flights to fly back German, French, Irish and Canadian nationals stranded in India during the lockdown as requested by the embassies

Amid all this and more, some airlines have also announced cutoffs in pay while trying to deny any risk to the jobs even though employees are constantly worried about the same.

INTERNATIONAL AIR CARGO DEMAND FLUCTUATIONS

It might be expected that the cargo industry would be doing fine in such times as they are in demand for constant transportation of medical supplies, and other necessities. That was witnessed also in many parts of the world. However, the restrictions and the risk involved have even affected the cargo sector. IATA released February 2020 data for global air freight markets showing that demand, measured in cargo tonne kilometres (CTKs*), decreased by 1.4 per cent compared to the same period in 2019. By February, the negative impact of the COVID19 crisis on air cargo demand was becoming visible.

Some of the significant developments witnessed month of March include:

• Widespread factory closures and travel restrictions lead to a sharp drop in the manufacturing production in China, one of the world’s largest air cargo markets.

Global export orders fell to a historically low level. The global Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) is in contraction territory, with all major trading nations reporting falling orders.

As a result of airlines reducing passenger operations in response to government travel restrictions due to COVID-19, severely impacting global supply chains and causing significant cargo capacity lost.

Cargo capacity, measured in available cargo tonne kilometers (ACTKs), dropped by 4.4 per cent year-on-year in February 2020. This is subject to the same distortions as the non-seasonally adjusted demand numbers.

A sizeable decline was also suffered by the airlines in Europe in year-on-year growth in total air cargo volumes in February 2020, while North American and Asia-Pacific carriers experienced more moderate falls. Middle East, Latin America and Africa were the only regions to record growth in air freight demand compared to February 2019.

“I have been pleased to note that several States have implemented measures to prevent disruptions to such critical operations, by maintaining all cargo flights and excluding crew members of cargo flights from quarantine,” noted Dr Fang Liu, Secretary General of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). “There is an urgent need to ensure the sustainability of the global air cargo supply chain and to maintain the availability of critical medications and equipment such as ventilators, masks, and other health and hygiene items which will help reduce the spread of COVID-19.”

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The CoronaVirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), was first detected in December 2019 in the city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province of China. Since then, the virus has spread rapidly turning into a pandemic that has been raging across the globe with no sign of abatement as yet. India too has been affected badly forcing the government to resort to a nationwide lockdown on March 22, 2020 followed by an extended lockdown for 21 days from March 25 to April 14 and once again up to May 3 this year . As compared with the other types of viruses that have been periodically affecting the nation over the years, the widespread infection by COVID-19 and the rate at which the number of persons affected by this virus is increasing, it does not appear possible to predict as to when this menace will be brought under control and normalcy to life that has been totally disrupted, would be restored. As of now, it appears that even after May 3, if not a total lockdown, the government may be compelled to impose restrictions in areas that have been severely affected by this virus. Such areas have been described as “Hotspots”.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has adversely affected all segments of the global economy which would include farming, travel industry, manufacturing and the complete range of small, large and medium size businesses across the globe. The daily wage earners especially are in complete distress. On account of the near total paralysis in movement by personnel, businesses related to travel has been hit very hard and one of the segments that has suffered a particularly devastating impact is the global aviation industry of which the airline industry is perhaps the worst affected. On account of the cessation of both domestic and international flights, the Indian carriers have had to ground their fleets impacting their source of revenue drastically and have even resorted to terminating services of pilots who had been re-employed on contract after retirement from the airline at the age of 58. While the national carrier has been employed to evacuate personnel to and from India at government expense, the private carriers have not been assigned such responsibility in the prevailing circumstances.

The plight of the Indian airline industry though well known to one and all in the country, has been formally brought to the notice of the Government of India by Alexandre de Juniac, Director General (DG) and the Chief Executive Officer of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). In a personal letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi,

The DG, IATA has stated that the crisis the Indian airline industry is facing currently, is much worse and far more widespread than that faced by the industry ever before. He goes on to say that “Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, contribution to the economy by India‘s air transport industry was estimated to be around $35 billion, supporting 6.2 million jobs and contributing 1.5 per cent to the GDP. However, COVID-19 has led to the destruction of air travel demand on an unprecedented scale. Travel restrictions and other measures adopted by governments have made most international air services economically unviable or operationally impossible, resulting in a rapid shrinking of the global air transport network. IATA estimates that COVID-19 could result in a nine per cent loss in passenger volumes and a loss of $2.1 billion in passenger base revenues for the air transport market in India in 2020. The disruptions in air travel on account of COVID-19, could well affect about 5,75,000 jobs and $3.2 billion in GDP that are supported by the air transport industry in India.”

The DG, IATA believes that the airlines in India especially those in the private sector, are currently in a grave and immediate danger of insolvency that could lead to total collapse, depriving the Indian economy of the significant contributions that the airline industry makes. This would be a complete disaster as it would deprive the nation of a safe, efficient and viable commercial air transport facility that provides connectivity both within the country and abroad. While the airline industry is adopting every possible measure to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, in the prevailing circumstances, their options are extremely limited. To alleviate the problems for the Indian airline industry, the DG, IATA has requested Prime Minister Modi for direct financial support temporarily to compensate for reduced revenues and liquidity attributable to travel restrictions imposed as a result of COVID-19. The financial support by the government could be by way of loans from banks or support from the corporate bond market, both with appropriate guarantee by the government, waiver of airport charges, taxes on air fares and other government-imposed levies, temporary waiver or reduction of excise duty on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) and credit to airlines for purchase of ATF.

There is no doubt that on account of COVID-19, the Indian airline industry today is facing an unprecedented disaster. Unless the Government of India steps in and extends timely and unmitigated financial support as opined by the DG, IATA, the Indian airline industry may find it difficult to survive.