Domestic air passenger traffic falls 83.5% in June

A total of 19.84 lakh domestic passengers travelled domestically in June this year, which is 83.5 per cent lower than the figures of the corresponding period last year, the DGCA said on Friday.

New Delhi: Domestic air passenger traffic declined by 83.5% as 19.84 lakh travelled during June due to the restrictions imposed by the government in the wake of Coronavirus pandemic, data released by the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Friday showed.

According to the DGCA data, domestic airlines carried 3.5 crore passengers during Jan-June 2020 period as against 7 crore passengers during the corresponding period of the previous year.

India resumed domestic passenger flights on May 25 after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus pandemic and only 30% of the flights were permitted to fly initially.

However, from June 25 onwards, the government allowed domestic airlines to operate at 45% capacity.

Budget carrier SpiceJet had the highest passenger load factor at 68% in June while at number two, InterGlobe Aviation Ltd's IndiGo, the largest airline in the country had a 60.7% load factor.

The passenger load factor of GoAir was at 57.9%, and Air India and Air Asia India at 56.5% each in June this year.

Of the 19.8 lakh domestic passengers, IndiGo accounted for 52.8% of the traffic while SpiceJet for 16.8%; the national carrier Air India for 12.2% passengers, Air Asia India for 7.1%; Vistara 5.6%; GoAir 4.5%.

The aviation sector has been hit hard by coronavirus pandemic with airlines cancelling international flights and inconsistency among the state governments regarding quarantine rules for air passengers.

Rating agency Crisil had on Wednesday said that curtailed mobility of people due to the Covid-19 pandemic is expected to shrink India's domestic air passenger traffic by 40-45% in FY21.

"The demand destruction can be gauged from the fact that even after resumption of domestic air services, the load factor is hovering at 50-60%, with the primarily unidirectional flow of traffic, limited largely to essential travel and those returning to their home cities or countries," the Crisil report said.