A STORMY FLIGHT AHEAD

When the pandemic forced weeks of shutdown of domestic and international air travel in India in end-March last year, SpiceJet chairman & MD Ajay Singh got down to some out-of-the-box thinking to navigate his airline through the impending financial crisis. Among the first things he did was put a dedicated fleet of nine freighters—five Boeing 737s, three Bombardier Q400s and a wide-body A340—into operation. Between end-March and November 2020, SpiceJet operated nearly 10,000 flights and carried 77,000 tonnes of cargo, including essential items like food and medicines, to 41 international destinations. By October, it had emerged as the largest international cargo operator at the Delhi airport.

With revenue from passenger business drying up during the pandemic, airlines the world over turned passenger aircraft into temporary cargo carriers to make money and stay afloat. In