May 10, 2022
A total of 10.5 million domestic passengers flew in FY21 and FY22
Indian airlines’ capacity deployment was nearly 36% higher than April ‘21
April ‘22 saw 81,777 domestic departures compared to 59,967 departures in the same month last year
International air traffic from Indian carriers has surpassed pre-Covid levels
India’s domestic air passenger traffic grew by 83% on a year-on-year (yoy) basis, to an estimated 10.5 million flyers, according to a report by ICRA, a prominent Indian credit rating organization. This brings it closer to pre-Covid levels of April 2019 and is only about 5% below the 11-million passengers mark that was recorded then.
With 81,777 departures when against 59,967 in the same month last year, the airlines’ capacity deployment was nearly 36% higher when than FY21, according to the report. The average daily departures for April ‘22 were at about 2,726 compared to the average daily departures of nearly 2,000 from April ‘21. The number of departures on a sequential basis in April ‘22 was roughly 2% higher than the previous month.
The report also mentioned that traffic for international passengers on Indian carriers has also marginally surpassed pre-Covid levels, and is around 1.85 million in April as compared to 1.83 million passengers during the same month last year. This was triggered by the resumption of scheduled overseas operations, and a reversion to bilaterally-agreed capacity entitlements.
Due to the ongoing geopolitical issues, a rise caused in the prices of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) continues to be a major concern for faster recovery, the report said.