These are difficult times-times of great challenge and turbulence. These times are characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA), disruptive innovations and stiffer regulatory compliances. No country can be an island in this time of greater resonance of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”, i.e., the world is one family. Hence, the growth and development of the aviation industry needs to be looked at in the context of global and domestic developments because of the inter-dependencies and inter-linkages of the global financial architecture.
A global flashpoint in Israel and Palestine on top of the Russia- Ukraine war for close to two years has intensified geo-political dynamics. With a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, mounting casualties, wanton destruction and rising geopolitical tensions, things are worsening. There are lurking fears that things could take a turn for the worse in the China-Taiwan relationship and the forcible eviction of possibly 1.7 million people out of the roughly 4 million Afghans living in Pakistan. Hence all these aspects need to be placed in the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is widely considered to be one of the most severe economic and medical emergencies in the last hundred years. The nearest comparisons are the Spanish flu of 1919 and in terms of the hit to income, output and employment; it was also seen as the most severe debilitating crisis, much more than the Global Financial Crisis of October 2008 and even the Great Depression of 1929.