The novel coronavirus has hit many businesses including the economic environment in aviation sector which has deteriorated significantly. IndiGo’s flight operations chief Ashim Mitra in an email to its pilots this morning said, it has become necessary to initiate some tough decisions over the next few days and weeks.

With countries sealing their borders partially or fully across the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the aviation sector has been hit extremely hard as most airlines globally have drastically curtailed their flight operations.

Mitra stated in his email: “Economic environment has deteriorated significantly and no airline is insulated from this severe downturn.”

“It has become a necessity to initiate some tough calls and we are working on a string of measures that will be shared and implemented over the next few days and weeks,” Mitra said.

Asking the pilots to not believe any hearsay, Mitra added that the airline will keep them updated. “Please keep taking all the precautions against COVID-19 and we shall overcome any challenge as long as we stand strong and tall against these headwinds,” he said.

Company’s CEO Ronojoy Dutta in a message to its customers said, “The air in our Airbus cabin refreshes itself every 3 minutes. So, the fresh air enters through the engines, passes through our High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters, and is then circulated in the cabin. HEPA ensures hospital-level filtration in our aircraft. In addition to all of this, personal protective measures are equally important. So wash your hands frequently. Avoid touching your face. And when you venture out, stand a few feet apart from people.”

“Finally, as I previously announced, for those of you who feel it best to delay your trips, IndiGo will waive all change fees for any bookings through the end of March,” said Dutta.

GoAir on Wednesday said it has terminated contracts of expat pilots amid curtailed operations due to the pandemic. Citing “unprecedented” decline in air travel, the budget carrier announced it was suspending international operations and offering leave without pay programme to its staff on a rotational basis.

Meanwhile, The Guardian reports, Australia’s Qantas airways will stand down two-thirds of its 30,000-strong workforce without pay and end international flights in a bid to survive what chief executive Alan Joyce said was the biggest crisis aviation has ever been through.

The World Economic Forum reports, that coronavirus epidemic is putting up to 50 million jobs in the global travel and tourism sector at risk, with travel likely to slump by a quarter this year, Asia being the most affected continent, the World Travel and Tourism Council has said.