Impact of Omicron on the Civil Aviation Industry

Amid the rising COVID-19 cases across the country, airline companies are bearing the most losses, as people are getting cautious of traveling and the ones who booked their air tickets are now re-scheduling their travel plans. As a result, India’s low-cost airline IndiGo said that it will cancel around 20 per cent of its scheduled flights as Omicron cases are on the rise in the country. Moreover, the airline carrier will also waive change fees for customers, until March 31, 2022. Besides, in order to aid customer needs, Air India is offering ‘One Free Change’ of date or flight number or sector for domestic tickets with confirmed travel till March 31, 2022.

As the Omicron affected numbers have started to surge, people are rescheduling their travel plans and switching to different flight dates. In the process, airlines incur a fee to change flights to a different date, termed as change fees. IndiGo has announced to do away with the change fees until March 31, 2022. The airline stated in a press release, “In response to customer needs, IndiGo is waiving change fees and is offering free changes for all new and existing bookings made up to January 31, for flights up to March 31, 2022.” As the demand is falling short, the carrier will also cancel up to 20 percent of its scheduled flights. “Where possible, cancellation of flights will be done at least 72 hours in advance and customers will be moved to the next available flight and will also be able to change their travel through the use of Plan B section on our website,” the press release added. With passengers rescheduling their flights amid rising COVID-19 cases, national carrier Air India is offering a ‘One Free Change’ of date or flight number or sector for domestic tickets with confirmed travel till March 31, 2022, stated ANI report.