NEW DELHI: Domestic air passenger traffic rose around 67% year-on-year and 24% sequentially to about 8.8 million passengers in October’21 following a revival in travel sentiment during the festival season and a downward trajectory in the fresh Covid-19 cases, according to data released by rating agency ICRA.
The data highlights that on an average, less than 3 lakh passengers boarded flights every day in India last month. However, according to data released by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), this number is now inching towards the pre-Covid level of 4 lakh.
On November 7 and November 8, average daily traffic in the domestic market stood at around 3.75 lakh.
“Domestic air traffic is touching new heights, one after the other, inching closer to pre-Covid levels. The trend is likely to continue riding on the success of India’s vaccination drive & economic recovery,” said aviation minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia on Monday.
Airlines’ capacity deployment in October was around 46% higher than October 2020 (72,000 departures in October 2021, against 49,150 departures in October 2020).
For October 2021, the average daily departures were at 2,400, significantly higher than the average daily departures of 1,585 in October 2020, and higher than 2,100 in September 2021.
However, on November 7 and November 8, daily departures were over 2,700 levels, highlighting a pickup in traffic.
Suprio Banerjee, Vice President & Sector Head at ICRA said that though the recovery continued in October 2021, demand continues to be subdued from the corporate traveller segment as reflected in passenger traffic, which is lower by 28% in October 2021 compared to the pre-Covid levels.
According to ICRA, aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices, which have seen a surge of 94.4% on a Y-o-Y basis till November 2021, continue to worry the sector.
“This, coupled with relatively low capacity utilisation of aircraft fleet, will continue to weigh on financial performance of Indian carriers in FY2022,” it said.
72,000 Departures in October 2021.
49,150 Departures in October 2020.
67% Year-on-Year rise in domestic air traffic.
24% Sequential rise in domestic air traffic.