India’s domestic passenger traffic witnesses 41-42% growth in June

Domestic passenger traffic has witnessed 41-42% growth in June with the decline in the Covid-19 cases across the country

Domestic passenger traffic has witnessed 41-42% growth in June with the decline in the Covid-19 cases across the country. According to ratings agency ICRA, domestic passenger traffic was estimated at around 2.9 million to 3 million in June, implying a sequential growth of around 41- 42% as compared to approximately 1.9 million in May.

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The report stated that the airlines’ capacity deployment this June was around 46% higher (around 31,700 departures) than June 2020 (21,696 departures). Moreover, the number of departures in June 2021 was higher by 14-15% as Covid-19 infections demonstrated a downward trajectory.

Kinjal Shah, vice president and co-group head, ICRA, said, “For June, the average daily departures were at approximately 1,100 – significantly higher than the average daily departures of approximately 700 June 2020, and higher than about 900 this May – though it remains significantly lower than around 2,000 in April 2021. The average number of passengers per flight this June was 94, against an average of 77 passengers per flight the month before that.”

However, Shah also said that though some recovery was observed in June, there exists continued stress on demand, driven largely by the second wave of the pandemic, limiting travel to only necessary travel. Both leisure and business travel have been curtailed due to various state-wide restrictions, despite the decline in infections.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) permitted airlines to increase the capacity on domestic routes gradually from 33% on May 25 to 80% from December 3, 2020. However, it reduced the permissible capacity deployment to 50% of pre-Covid levels from June 1 due to the surge in cases in the second wave of the pandemic. However, on Monday, MoCA increased the capacity to 65%, which is applicable till July 31.

Scheduled international operations have been suspended further till July 31. However, under the Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) – for evacuating Indians from foreign countries – the international passenger traffic (inbound and outbound) for domestic carriers has been approximately 3.7 million for the period May 7, 2020, to June 30 this year.

“For June 2021, the international passenger traffic for Indian carriers under VBM was estimated at approximately 147,000 – a sequential growth of about 4% – as flights to/from India remained suspended by many countries, citing the new variant of Covid-19 and high infection levels,” said ICRA.