aiNEW DELHI: India’s domestic air passenger traffic has more than doubled in the last few weeks. The average number of daily fliers rose to 103,000 for the week ended June 19 against 49,000 for the week ending May 23. Domestic air traffic is expected to see further improvement in the next few days since data issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation shows that on Sunday (June 20) 1,32,309 passengers flew on 1,245 flights.
This is the third straight week that domestic air traffic has shown growth amidst falling Covid-19 cases, increasing vaccinations, and the easing of curbs by most states. For the week ended June 19, the average number of departures increased sharply to 1,195 vis-a-vis 1,003 in the prior week. The number of fliers per departure increased marginally to 86 from 83.
“Average daily fliers grew 23.7 per cent week-on-week due to a 19.2 per cent growth in departures and 4 per cent growth in the number of fliers per departure. According to data released by the DGCA, the passenger load factor declined sequentially in May 21. SpiceJet reported the highest PLF compared to other airlines. In terms of market share, Air India reported a sharp jump in May 2021 at 20.3 per cent from 12 per cent in April, while Indigo’s market share improved marginally to 55.3 per cent,” ICICI Securities said in a note on Monday. Despite this improvement, current air traffic is significantly lower than the peak of 2019 when 375,000 passengers took advantage of domestic air services every day.