Flight occupancy drops due to corona fear

LUCKNOW: Due to fears of coronavirus, fresh bookings and occupancy in international and domestic flights from Lucknow airport have dropped by almost 40% and 20% respectively in the last few days. “Saudi Arabia Airlines has decided to cancel its flights from March 15 to March 31, while Oman Airways has decided to cancel one of its two flights,” said Sanjay Narayan, spokesperson of Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Till now, flights for Jeddah and Muscat have been cancelled temporarily.

A 40% drop in traffic is expected in flights to Dubai, Bangkok and Riyadh, said officials.

Officials of airlines said passengers were avoiding travel because of coronavirus outbreak and strict visa rules of all countries.

State chairman of Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) Prateek Hira said, “International air travel to and from India has already been hit due to coronavirus warnings issued by several countries. The fear factor has hit tourism sector. With the visa restrictions coming into effect, slump in air traffic and tourism is expected.”

“Domestic traffic is also hit. Flights to major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, which are the prime revenue generators are seeing 20-30% less traffic despite reduced fare. Domestic tourism was something, which was saving small tour operators, but now it’s also getting affected,” he said.

He added, “The only silver lining to the issue is that the airlines can afford to reduce fares as oil prices continue to drop. Few domestic carriers are also waiving cancellation fees.” “We expect low turnout in March and April, but expect growth in traffic after that as threat of virus may be controlled by then,” said Hira.