Rising costs, primarily of fuel, and the inability to pass these on to customers due to cut-throat competition and capacity additions in the sector resulted in plummeting profits for all airline companies in the March 2018 quarter, and things seem no better now. All the gloom and doom in the skies brought out the bard in our columnist, who penned this elegiac verse on the vagaries of fortune.
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Ominously, the skies turn gray
Airlines’ financials dangerously fray
Ardent investors hope and pray
But many are fleeing, not brave to stay
***
The largest bird in the domestic sky
IndiGo saw its June quarter profit dry
Jet, SpiceJet are also likely to fry
However much they may try
***
The squeeze was coming, it was clear
Dismal March numbers gave cause for fear
But off danger, the airlines didn’t steer
And now, they are paying the price, very dear
***
Oil went up, the rupee slid down
In rising fuel bills, airlines began to drown
But with cheap tickets they went to town
The smile until December quickly became a frown
***
Why, oh why, did airlines not hike their fare?
At mounting costs, why just stand and stare?
Wouldn’t that have helped their losses pare
A no-brainer all right, but they don’t quite dare
***
Crazy competition ties down their hand
As planes and seats galore keep joining the band
The flood’s just started, umpteen more to land
The ground soon risks turning into quicksand
***
All this as passenger numbers continues to soar
Stark irony this, it strikes to the core
Roaring traffic, yet losses pile up more
A bird or two could sink, be washed ashore