Anant Singhal on state of Indian aviation industry, pilot shortages and more

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Anant Singhal, Team Lead, CAPA India, says “in the first quarter of the fiscal, the airlines witnessed very strong yields. In the current fiscal ending this month, there was a dip of about 15% to 17%. Coming to the next quarter, it again will be robust because demand will increase and we expect some upward swing in fares and in the yields that airlines earn.”
There have been a lot of issues related to the aviation industry of late, flight cancellations, pilot resignations. What is indicative of the Indian aviation sector? Will we tide over it soon enough?
Before I answer your question, I would like to provide some context. Right now, we have about 135 aircraft of Indian carriers that are grounded. Now, with that in mind, the pilot shortage that we would have expected is somewhat better, because 135 aircraft are on ground. As and when these aircraft start flying again and new inductions come in, the challenge of pilot shortage will likely go up and a lot of airlines are expected to face challenges with this area.

Right now, it seems to be somewhat manageable, although lately because of the 40 resignations, about 80% of the schedule had to be cancelled. But overall, from the industry perspective, the issue of shortage of pilots is somewhat manageable, but when these aircraft start flying again it will start creating challenges for the industry.

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What is your take on the air ticket prices? We understand that owing to the shortage, we are likely to see close to a 20-30% jump in