Toughest Business

By Ramesh Akkineni

from an article in Businessworld

The airline business the world over is not known for its ability to churn out huge profits. Airlines going bankrupt is more the rule than the exception. Take the US, where more than 350 filings for bankruptcy have been recorded since the sector was opened up in the late 1970s. In Europe, over 60-65 carriers have shut shop in the past 4-5 years, especially after the advent of low-cost carriers. So what is happening in India is hardly unique. All over the world, both legacy and low-cost carriers have lost humungous amounts of money and have closed down with unerring regularity.

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