Domestic daily air traffic hit a peak on Sunday since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. A total of 3.27 lakh passengers flew on 2,372 flights within India as the threat of Covid-19 eased.

On Monday, Civil Aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia tweeted that the civil aviation sector thrives amidst unprecedented challenges, whilst every effort is being made to return to normalcy as early as possible.

Steady recovery

Before the pandemic struck, India’s daily domestic air traffic was at over 4.25 lakh passengers. This had dropped to near zero at the peak of the first wave when travel was banned. But over the past few months, air traffic has been picking up steadily. The Indian aviation industry is seeing a steady month-on-month recovery, according to credit rating agency ICRA. The agency said there has been a sequential growth of 30-31 per cent as the Covid-19 infection trajectory dropped. In August, domestic passenger traffic registered improvement at 65-66 lakh, compared to 50.1 lakh in July 2021, a y-o-y growth of around 131 per cent.

Recently, the government had announced that domestic airlines will be allowed to operate at full capacity. The government’s capacity caps on the airline sector have been in place for nearly 17 months now, as they were first imposed in May 2020, following the outbreak of Covid-19.

Domestic tourism

“Owing to the constructive policies of the government, domestic air traffic has seen the highest level, post the onset of the pandemic!” Scindia said.

Indiver Rastogi, President & Group Head - Global Business Travel - Thomas Cook (India) & SOTC said that the focus on domestic aviation and positive updates, including the Government’s recent announcement permitting domestic carriers to operate at 100 percent of their pre-Covid capacity, has certainly put the spotlight on Domestic Tourism. “We have seen a surge of over 5x this festive season - signalling strong pent up demand and with it a return of consumer confidence in air travel,” he added.

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