IVEY Publishing W25429 BENGALURU AIRPORT: CRISIS LEADERSHIP THROUGH A PANDEMIC Somnath Baishya and Dr. Gita Bajaj wrote this case solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised certain names and other identifying information to protect confidentiality. This publication may not be transmitted, photocopied, digitized, or otherwise reproduced in any form or by any means without the permission of the copyright holder. Reproduction of this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Ivey Business School, Westem University, London, Ontario, Canada, NGG ON1; (1) 519.661.3208; (e) cases@ivey.ca; www.iveypublishing.ca. Our goal is to publish materials of the highest quality; submit any errata to publishcases@ivey.ca. Copyright @ 2022, Ivey Business School Foundation Version: 2022-02-09 At 8:00 a.m on a typical June morning, it would be rush hour, with the constant buzzing of planes taking off and landing at Bengaluru Airport, the third-busiest airport in India. Not today, however, 2020 was different. Hari Marar, chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director of Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL)-a consortium that operated Bengaluru Airport-had received two emails related to the COVID-19 pandemic that worried him. The first was from his chief human resources officer (CHRO) sharing a media report on the Bengaluru-based infrastructure giant GMR Group, which operated India's Delhi and Hyderabad airports. GMR Group had decided to cut salaries for its employees by up to 50 per cent. The other email was about Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, one of the fastest-growing airports in the United States, which was envisageng a three-year delay in its expansion.- Marar wondered what these developments indicated, whether Bengaluru Airport should follow the example of Delhi and Hyderabad airports, and whether his team should postpone their ambitious airport expansion project. Marar and his team were on schedule until the COVID-19 pandemic began in December 2019. Everything then flipped within a few weeks. Country after country advised their citizens to stay home and maintain social distancing to control the spread of the virus. The global aviation industry came to a halt. BIAL's passenger volume in January-May 2020 was half of what it had been in the same period in 2019. Cargo operations and non-aeronautical revenues from food and beverage, retail, and lounge services had seen a similar decline. At the company's last board meeting, there had been long conversations and concerns voiced about the airport's expansion and planned investments. The COVID-19 crisis was a rare and complex situation. Information was scattered and laced with contradictions. Being dynamic, the crisis had challenged the team's ability to adapt, and there was no end in sight. Leadership team meetings since the start of 2020 had been intense; Marar recalled the many difficult questions and passionate debates that began as soon as the team detected the first signals of the emerging crisis and were compounded by the extended nationwide lockdown declared in late March. What strategies