Jalebi Flying

     Visiting Chandni Chowk is a gastronomic delight for food lovers.  Street food choices available there are known for their well-knownness.  Parathawali Gali,  Chaat Corners, Kachori Wala, Natraj Dahi Balle,  Old Famous Jalebi Wala the list goes on. Last visited the place was on a wintry Sundry afternoon in the third week of January when the redevelopment was in full swing. The mantra of staying home to fight the novel virus is keeping us away from these occasional privileges. Post Corona acquired culinary skills encourage one to try at home whatever one is missing otherwise. I found some home cooked dishes like kebabs, pulao, sambhar taste almost similar to those at regular eateries.

Eating one’s own cooking has a different charm and never spoils the stomach. That reminds what Winston Churchill once said “eating my own words has never given me indigestion”. The newly trained courage and the encouragement from friends made me try jalebis at home. After observing couple of You Tube tutorials and reading literature on the dish, I decided to take the plunge.

The batter was ready, its consistency appeared alright, neither thin nor thick. When I started dropping into the heated oil from the neatly cut small hole of a tightly packed pouch, trying to make circles, it started making its own rounded mini pancake shape.  Finally, I could feel the taste of jalebi but not the kick of having it at a roadside shop. One thing is clear that the batter is not in your control once it starts to dive into the hot oil especially when you happen to be a novice. A couple of attempts will surely give you the requisite experience to get the desired Jalebi shape. But that is not the case with airline industry. Despite acquiring nearly hundred years of experience in running the business of flying machines, commercial aviation industry’s woes see no end. Barring a few carriers across the globe, most of the companies went belly up after running for a few years.

        Aviation industry is always known for its failures than success stories. Even operationally successful companies do not make financial profits. Billionaire investor Warren Buffet once said “Investors have poured their money into airlines and airline manufactures for 100 years with terrible results. It has been a death trap for investors”. His own investments in US Airways in 1989 tuned unexciting. He told shareholders in a 2007 that “if a farsighted capitalist had been present at Kitty Hawk, he would have done his successors a huge favor by shooting Orville down.” Kitty Hawk, a beach town in North Carolina State witnessed the experimental flight trials by Wright brothers in the early years of last century.

Investors tend to change their views on businesses when new facts and circumstances emerge, especially when the business’s ability to maintain competitive advantage over its peers in order to protect long term profits and market share. Warren’s restraint on the sector changed after 15 years. He tested his luck in the sector in 2016 when the airline sector in US consolidated after several bankruptcies and mergers and emerged as an oligopoly with four airlines namely American Airlines, Delta Air, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines grabbing two thirds of the market share in that country and declaring better numbers year after year. Berkshire Hathaway’s interest in the aviation industry was based on the sector’s overall improved financial performance of these four carriers declaring a combined profit of $22 billion in 2015 attributed to lower fuel prices, better labour relations and higher fees for check-in baggage and more importantly reduced competition due to consolidation. By 2019, Berkshire’s shareholding went up to nearly 10 per cent in these four airlines. Until end 2019, these four airlines were reporting healthy profits.

The pandemic induced lockdown has changed everything. Nearly 17,000 aircraft world over parked at various airports without maintenance and upkeep. By the middle of April this year the situation appeared rather alarming for the entire travel industry. Berkshire offloaded its securities in all these airlines by the end of April fearing a catastrophic impact on the industry.

The airline industry remains on edge at every event, whether an oil price hike due to shortage or war like situation, man-made or natural disasters, nothing to write about when a Black Swan event like the corona pandemic unfolds.

       In India, a lot of private airlines commenced services after permitting them to operate charter and non-scheduled back in 1986 by amending the Air Corporation Act, 1953 and then repealing the very Act from the statute book in 1994 for beginning scheduled services. Those entered the fray were Air Sahara, Damania Airlines, East West Airlines, Modiluft and NEPC airlines in early 90s.  All of them vanished after operating for a few years. Jet and Sahara Airways obtained licenses to operate scheduled services. Jet Airways continued till 2019 and is now at the mercy of competing bidders to take over it in the on-going Corporate Insolvency Resolution Plan under the aegis of a Committee of Creditors constituted by NCLT. Besides Interglobe Aviation (operator of Indigo), and Spice Jet, Jet Airways was one of the very few airline companies raised capital from the public through an Initial Public Offering.

Despite capturing nearly 50 percent of the market share in India, Interglobe reported a net loss of Rs.870 crore for the quarter ending March 2020, exhibiting the devastating impact of the pandemic on the air travel even before the imposition of lockdown. How the first quarter pans out is anybody’s guess.

            While praying for the virus to loose its potency, I will keep on my efforts at perfecting the art of getting jalebi in better shape.