Following the impact of coronavirus in the travel business, iy has forced Air India to close five of its base in Europe. This was revealed on Wednesday through an internal note circulated by the Commercial Division of Air India states, “In view of the COVID situation, it has been approved by competent authority, “it will close down following stations and become offline across Europe due to no flight operations.”
They are, offices in Vienna (Austria), Milan (Italy), Madrid (Spain), Copenhagen (Denmark) and Stockholm (Sweden).
According DNA report, Air India spokesperson in his statement said: “In view of the Covid-19 situation, Air India has decided to close down these stations and would immediately initiate action for the closure in consultation with local lawyers and advise the timelines, by which the station will be closed,”
“The current International Booking Offices(IBO) are to be recalled to India and the station will be handed over to General Sales Agent(GSA) after completion of formality of closure.”
The International Air Transport Association (IATA), in its forecast in July had stated that global passenger traffic Revenue Passenger kilometers (RPKs) will not return to pre-Covid-19 levels until 2024, a year later than previously projected.
In addition, the IATA had said that for 2020, global passenger numbers are expected to decline by 55 per cent compared to 2019. This was a revised forecast from the one in April where IATA had predicted that the global passenger numbers could decline by 46 per cent this year.
Source: indiatoday.com