India’s biggest domestic airline braces for third Covid wave

India’s largest domestic airline says it is building a war chest of more than $1bn as it prepares for a third wave of Covid-19 infections, just as a brutal nationwide outbreak begins to recede. Ronojoy Dutta, CE of IndiGo Airlines parent InterGlobe Aviation, said he hoped the carrier’s business would return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year but warned that another wave of coronavirus in November could cause more disruption. The budget airline plans to raise Rs30b ($410m) through a qualified institutional placement, an equity raising tool used in India, to prepare for a worst-case scenario. IndiGo also plans to source approximately $600m through bank credit and sales and leasebacks of aircraft. “The doctors tell us there will be a third wave. There are no ifs and buts about it, and it will probably come around November, December,” said Dutta. “The board says ‘look, the environment is volatile . . . What if we go for another three months’ shutdown, then what? And the revenue is zero?’ It’s for that sort of disaster scenario that we are building insurance,” he added. Coronavirus cases have been declining steadily in India after hitting a peak in mid-May, though the country recorded a worldwide one-day record of more than 6,000 deaths this week, driven in part by the Delta variant first identified in the country. However, there are still about 100,000 cases reported daily and many countries have issued travel restrictions for passengers from India.<br/>