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CERTIFIED MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTANT 19

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The aviation industry was among the
first to feel the economic impact as
COVID-19 swept the globe in the
early months of 2020. The imposition
CEO of Mumbai Airport is of travel restrictions and a wide-scale
suspension of flights saw the industry
planning for recovery suddenly switch to survival mode.
Global passenger numbers fell by
more than 5.6 billion in 2020 and
By SUSAN MULDOWNEY the decline in total airport revenues
worldwide exceeded US$104.5 billion
(A$147.6 billion).
For Rajeev Jain FCPA, chief executive
officer of Mumbai International
Airport Limited (MIAL), 2020 felt like
the longest year on record. MIAL
operates Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj
International Airport (CSMIA), the
second-busiest airport in India after
Delhi’s. COVID-19 restrictions on
domestic and international air travel
were implemented across India in
March 2020, and the fallout for CSMIA
was immediate.
“

There should

always be a

cushion in

liquidity to tide

the business

Rajeev Jain over in case
FCPA, chief executive officer of
Mumbai International Airport Limited of unexpected
(MIAL).
disruptions.
Source: CPA Australia. Copyright@2020 CPA Australia Ltd. Used by permission.
Conserving cash flow is an ongoing
challenge in an industry where two-
Air travel has faced a new form of turbulence during the past year, but thirds of costs are fixed, no matter
Rajeev Jain FCPA, CEO of Mumbai International Airport, maintains a steady how many passengers fly. For the
focus on adapting to change and planning for recovery. financial year to 31 March 2021, Jain
estimates that a total of 9.45 million
passengers will have flown through
At a glance CSMIA. This compares to 45.9 million
 Rajeev Jain FCPA is the CEO of Mumbai International Airport Limited the previous financial year.
(MIAL), which operates Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport “It’s a conservative estimate,” Jain
(CSMIA), the second-busiest airport in India. says.
 Pre-pandemic, one of Jain’s most significant tasks was driving a project “The pandemic was never expected,
to finish constructing a second airport in Mumbai. and it became clear sometime in

 Jain has had to focus on resetting priorities in order to stem the financial March [2020] that it was going to be
losses incurred by CSMIA due to pandemic-driven travel restrictions. greater than any challenge we’ve
faced in the past.”

www.cma-srilanka.org | Volume 06 -No. 2 - September 2021