Daily air passenger traffic crosses 3-lakh mark after 45 days, sharp recovery seen

The demand for air travel has picked up at a sharp pace since the last week. The daily air traffic has crossed the 3-lakh mark after a gap of 45 days and the daily demand for air travel has remained above 300,000 passengers since February 18.

The daily air traffic over the last three days have been recorded at 310,288 passengers, 324,537 passengers, and 341,695 passengers on February 18, February 19, and February 20 respectively. The air travel demand in February so far was highest on February 20 at 341,695 passengers or at 85 percent of the pre-COVID level.

The trend over the last week i.e. February 14-20 has been promising for the Indian aviation stakeholders as the demand has started to make a comeback after the Omicron-induced weakness. The air passenger traffic during February 14-20 rose by 18 percent on the week and the departures during the last seven days also increased by 14 percent the week.

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It is important to note that the highest air passenger traffic since the onset of COVID was recorded on November 21, 2021, at 393,245 passengers or at 98 percent of the pre-COVID level. While there are no restrictions on capacity deployment currently, fare caps are still in place.

"We were almost back to pre-COVID levels ahead of the onset of Omicron…Yesterday we were back to close to 3.5 lakh passengers, fall has been steep but the rise has been steep as well. Confident that all things remain equal, we can cross the pre-covid level in the next two months or so. The sector is poised for a value-led paradigm with new players coming on board," union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia today said at the 66th foundation day of AIMA.