The Covid pandemic and the extremely gradual recovery out of it is none the more evident but in the airline industry. Currently, while scheduled international operations,  that mainly see operations of wide-bodied airliners — are suspended due to Covid-19, special repatriation flights are being operated by both Indian and foreign carriers on smaller aircraft. Although a large number of foreign carriers like Qatar, Emirates and Etihad have been pushing for it for a long time to commence international operations with wide-bodied aircraft from Kozhikode. However, due to safety reasons, and, in the wake of the Air India Express crash, DGCA has decided against giving permission to the wide-bodied aircraft at Kozhikode. Is it too little, too late?