Global travel from India back to pre-Covid levels

International air travel has surpassed pre-Covid levels in April since scheduled flights resumed operations in March. Domestic travel too grew in April, but was 5 per cent lower than pre-Covid levels.

With the resumption of scheduled international operations since March 27, 2022 and reversion to bilaterally-agreed capacity entitlements, the international passenger traffic for Indian carriers in April 2022 surged to 1.85 million. This had marginally surpassed the international passenger traffic of 1.83 million witnessed in pre-Covid times of April 2019.

With the resumption of regular flights in March, airlines across the globe were able to begin their summer schedule and cater to the vacation travelers. Air bubble arrangements also were revoked. The aviation ministry had in November last year announced plans to resume regular international flights starting December 15, 2021, but rescinded that order due to the rise in Omicron cases.

India had cancelled international flights in March 2020 along with the first wave of the pandemic. It later opened international flights to bring back Indians from foreign countries, followed by bubble flight arrangements with select countries, where airlines are allowed to carry passengers only to their home bases.

According to ICRA, domestic air travel in April 2022 too grew 83 per cent to 10.5 million against April 2021. But it was still 5 per cent lower compared to 11 million in April 2019. The airlines’ capacity deployment at 81,777 departures was 36 per cent higher than April 2021 against 59,967 departures in April 2021.

However, sequentially, the domestic passenger traffic in April 2022 was almost flat compared to 10.7 million in March 2022.