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'Within touching distance of pre-Covid numbers': Puri on rising domestic aviation operations
Puri said around 2.87 lakh passengers flew on 2,230 flights yesterday, which he added is the highest since the domestic operations resumed on May 25 last year.
Union minister for civil aviation Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday said that the aviation industry will soon be back to pre-Covid numbers as he shared the number of passengers who flew on February 7. Puri said around 2.87 lakh passengers flew on 2,230 flights yesterday, which he added is the highest since the domestic operations resumed on May 25 last year.
"India flies high. 2,87,210 passengers flew on 2,230 flights on 7 Feb 2021. This is the highest since resumption of domestic operations on 25 May 2020. We are now within touching distance of Pre-Covid numbers," Puri tweeted.
This comes in the backdrop of the International Air Transport Association's report that said 2020 was the worst year for the aviation industry. As per the report, the air traffic demand witnessed the sharpest decline of 65.9 per cent globally.
"Optimism that the arrival and initial distribution of vaccines would lead to a prompt and orderly restoration in global air travel have been dashed in the face of new outbreaks and new mutations of the disease. The world is more locked down today than at virtually any point in the past 12 months and passengers face a bewildering array of rapidly changing and globally uncoordinated travel restrictions,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO."
In the domestic air passenger traffic market, Australia topped with recording the sharpest fall in air traffic demand that plummeted by 69.5 per cent in 2020 in comparison to 2019. India ranked third with a fall of 55.6 per cent in the domestic air traffic demand in 2020.
Also Read | List of countries worst hit in aviation by Covid, India 3rd in domestic traffic
The capacity of domestic air travel was increased to 80 per cent of their pre-Covid capacity from the previous 70 per cent by the government in December last year. Domestic air travel had resumed in May, 2020 however the initial air travel capacity was limited to 33 per cent of their pre-Covid levels to contain the spread of coronavirus through travel.
