May brings travel recovery hope

During the month of May, Indian airports witness steep increase in international passenger traffic to 72 per cent of the pre-Covid levels. This comes within one month of the resumption of international commercial operations on March 27.

ICRA expects an increase in the overall passenger traffic up to 97 per cent of the pre-Covid levels in FY2023 on the back of a strong and sharp recovery in domestic passenger traffic and the resumption of international commercial operations. The international commercial operations resumed on March 27 this year, after a two-year ban. Though, special flights were allowed during the banned period.

The ramp up is healthy with international passenger traffic reaching 63 per cent and 72 per cent of pre-Covid levels (similar period in 2019) in April and May 2022 respectively compared to the recovery of less than 50 per cent to that of pre-pandemic levels during FY2022. The recovery in domestic passenger traffic was strong post-Omicron and has reached 98 per cent of pre-Covid levels in April and May 2022. Overall, passenger traffic has reached 93 per cent of preCovid levels in May 2022. As per a recent report published by ICRA on Airport Infrastructure industry, Abhishek Lahoti, Senior Analyst, Corporate Ratings, ICRA, said, “Resumption of international commercial operations has accelerated the traffic recovery. Considering the healthy ramp up in international traffic in the last two months, ICRA expects international traffic to reach 8085 per cent of the pre-Covid level in FY2023 as against earlier estimates of 70-75 per cent.”