MUMBAI: The country's air passenger traffic registered a negative growth of 3-5 per cent in the last fiscal as traffic slowed even before the coronavirus outbreak due to multiple reasons, including closure of Jet Airways, according to rating agency ICRA.
The agency, on Thursday said the de-growth was largely driven by higher airfares in the wake of large scale flight cancellations following shutting down of Jet Airways and overall sluggishness in demand. Jet Airways stopped operations in April last year.
The agency said that a gradual recovery in domestic traffic is expected once the commercial air services are restored while the international traffic would take a couple of quarters to come back to the normal level.
Commercial flight services have been suspended till April 14 amid the 21-day nationwide lockdown to prevent spreading of coronavirus infections. "Overall, except for the closure of airport operations, excluding cargo, the passenger traffic witnessed the de-growth in the range of 3-5 per cent for FY2020," ICRA said during a media webinar on Thursday.
The growth in passenger traffic as well as aircaft movement slowed down considerably during nine months of FY 2020 even before the coronavirus pandemic, it added, Financial year 2020 ended on March 31.
Noting that the growth in air traffic largely depends on economic cycle in the country, ICRA said over the last decade, aircraft traffic movement grew at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 7.2 per cent between FY 2009 and FY 2019.
However, there was a decline in FY09 and FY13. The traffic saw double-digit growth every year in last four years, it added.