BackOctober air passenger traffic up 33% sequentially: Icra
Domestic air passenger traffic is expected to decline to about 55 million passengers during 2020 due to the pandemic, as per aviation consultancy firm Capa India. Domestic scheduled carriers carried 144.17 million passengers in 2019
PremiumNEW DELHI: Domestic air passenger traffic continued to recover in October, growing 33% month-on-month but was 58% lower on year because of the pandemic, rating agency Icra said in a report on Friday.
While the capacity deployed by carriers during October stood at about 52% of their pre-covid volumes, it was a significant increase from about 46% capacity deployment during September, the rating agency added.
Indian airlines suspended operations for about two months between March and May, as the government had imposed travel restrictions to curb the spread of the pandemic. Airlines were allowed to resume domestic operations in late May in a calibrated manner. However, travel appetite remains somewhat muted due to the pandemic.
“For October 2020, the average daily departures were about 1,574, significantly lower than the average daily departures of 3,031 in October 2019, though better than about 1,311 in September 2020," said Kinjal Shah, vice president, Icra.
"The average number of passengers per flight during October2020 was 106, as against an average of 131 passengers per flight in October 2019. Thus, it is expected that the domestic aviation industry operated at a passenger load factor (PLF) of about 68% in October2020, as against 83.6% in October 2019, that too on a low capacity," Shah said, adding that the PLF for October was higher than the 63.2% in September despite the increase in capacity deployment by about 24%.
PLF, or passenger load factor, measures the capacity utilisation of transport services, including airlines.
Domestic air passenger traffic is expected to decline to about 55 million passengers during 2020 due to the pandemic, aviation consultancy firm CAPA India had said in a report in July. In comparison, domestic scheduled carriers carried 144.17 million passengers during 2019.
For October, the number of international passenger traffic was 255,075, an about 87% from the year-ago period, Icra added.
Normal international flights remain suspended at least till 30 November. However, India currently has air bubble arrangements with several countries, which allow movement between these countries with certain restrictions. Apart from these flights, international repatriation flights and cargo-only operations are also allowed.
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