(Reuters) – Shares of Indian airline operators Interglobe Aviation and Spicejet surged on Wednesday, a day after the government said scheduled commercial flight operations to international destinations would resume from March 27.
The government is restarting unrestricted travel for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago.
Interglobe Aviation and Spicejet jumped as much as 8% and 6.4% in early trade, and were up 5.5% and 4.7%, respectively as of 0452 GMT.
The move will be a boost for Indian airlines as demand for travel has rebounded in recent months, with both Interglobe Aviation, which operates the country’s biggest airline IndiGo, and Spicejet reporting profit in the December quarter after two years of being ravaged by the pandemic.
India currently allows airlines to operate a limited number of flights to countries with which it has a bilateral arrangement under an “air bubble” agreement. This has limited airlines’ operations and hurt their profitability.
The government’s move will provide “impetus to the economic recovery for the sector and the nation, with borders opening for tourists,” IndiGo Chief Executive Officer Ronojoy Dutta said in a statement late Tuesday.
India’s daily coronavirus infections have fallen drastically and the country is surging back to normalcy with schools and offices reopening in most states.
Shares of Interglobe Aviation have fallen over 17%, while Spicejet is down over 13% so far this year.
(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
