Air traffic rises for 6th week in a row

NEW DELHI: Air passenger traffic in India rose for the sixth straight week as a fall in Covid-19 cases and easing of curbs led more people to take to the skies.

The average number of daily fliers rose to 150,000 for the week ended July 10, from 135,000 fliers a week before, brokerage firm ICICI Securities said in a report.

The average number of departures rose to 1,486 during the week, from 1,408 in the previous week. The number of fliers per departure was improved to 100 from 95 during the previous week.

“Average daily fliers grew 11% WOW (week-on-week) due to 5.5% growth in departures and 5.2% growth in number of fliers per departure,” the aviation report said.

Industry experts said that despite a fall in cases in the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, many passengers still remain wary of taking flights due to health concerns.

“A sustainable growth in passenger traffic is possible only when a significant portion of the population is vaccinated,” said a senior airline official, requesting anonymity.

Overall, Indian domestic air passenger traffic is expected to increase by 52% during the current fiscal year (FY2022), while international passenger traffic is expected to rise by 60% during the same period, though overall passenger traffic is expected to remain well below the figures registered during FY20, aviation consultancy firm Capa India said on its India Aviation Outlook FY 2022 presentation last week.

“In FY22, the metro-metro network (airline network between two metropolitans) is likely to rebound to 53.7%, (while) metro to non-metro by 80% and non-metro to nonmetro 70% of pre-covid levels,” Capa said in the presentation.

AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAILY FLIERS ROSE TO 150,000 FOR THE WEEK ENDED JULY 10