E-Paper
Domestic air traffic grew by nearly 40% in June: Report
The average number of passengers per flight during June 2021 was 94, against an average of 77 passengers per flight in May 2021.
Domestic air passenger traffic grew by 41-42% with an estimated 2.9 to 3 million passengers flying in June as compared to 1.98 million passengers in May as the rate of Covid- 19 infections dipped after peaking during the second wave, according to credit rating agency ICRA.
Airlines’ capacity deployment for June 2021 was around 46% higher than June 2020 with 31,700 departures in June 2021, against 21,696 departures in June 2020, the report noted. On a sequential basis, the number of departures in June 2021 was higher by 14-15%, as Covid-19 infections demonstrated a downward trajectory.
“For June 2021, the average daily departures were at ~1100, significantly higher than average daily departures of 700 in June 2020, and higher than ~900 in May 2021, though [it] remains significantly lower than ~2000 in April 2021. The average number of passengers per flight during June 2021 was 94, against an average of 77 passengers per flight in May 2021. Though there is some recovery observed in June 2021, there exists continued stress on demand, driven largely by the second wave of the pandemic, limiting travel to only necessary travel, while both leisure and business travel have been curtailed due to various state-wide restrictions, despite the decline in infections,” Kinjal Shah, vice president & Co-group head, ICRA said.
The aviation ministry in May 2020 increased capacity deployment on domestic routes gradually from 33%, with effect from May 25, 2020, to 80%, with effect from December 03, 2020. However, it reduced the permissible capacity deployment to 50% of pre-Covid levels with effect from June, 2021 due to the resurgence of the second wave of the pandemic. On Monday it permitted increasing the capacity to 65% with effect from July 5, 2021, applicable up to July 31, 2021.
The Airport Authority of India tweeted on Tuesday to say that the Indian airspace was witnessing a rise in the domestic & international flight operations and the air traffic graph over Indian air space was also showing the same. “...AAI Airports across all five regions are operating in full swing, keeping up with safety precautions against Covid-19,” it said.
Earlier this month the finance ministry announced a scheme providing financial support in the form of working capital/personal loans to 10,700 regional level tourist guides recognised under the tourism ministry and tourist guides recognised by the state governments and travel and tourism stakeholders (TTS) recognised by the Ministry of Tourism.
Additionally, to provide an impetus to the tourism industry, the finance ministry announced a scheme to issue one-month tourist visas free of charge to first 500,000 customers, validity of which is until March 31, 2022.
“This is a right step towards demand push for the airlines sector, primarily directed at inbound international travel. However, impact of the same is expected to be realised only once scheduled international operations are permitted by the government on a regular basis and the global fear psychosis related to travel to India subsides,” the report added.
While the scheduled international operations have been suspended further till July 31, 2021, under the Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) for evacuation of Indian citizens from foreign countries and air bubbles, which started from May 07, 2020, the international passenger traffic (inbound and outbound) for Indian carriers stood at 3.7 million for the period between May 7, 2020 to June 30, 2021.
For June 2021, the international passenger traffic for Indian carriers under the VBM was estimated at 147,000, a sequential growth of ~4% as flights to/from India remained suspended in June 2021 by many countries, citing the new variant of Covid-19 and high infection levels, the report noted.
