The domestic airlines have surpassed pre-COVID level of international air traffic in the month of June, rating agency ICRA has said.
"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 is on a growth trajectory and surged to around 2.1 million in June 2022, which has notably surpassed the international passenger traffic of around 1.8 million witnessed in June 2019 (pre-Covid level) by around 18 percent," ICRA said in a statement today.
In the domestic market, the air passenger traffic dipped marginally in June as compared to the previous month.
Also read:
For June 2022, the average daily departures were at around 2,771, notably higher than the average daily departures of around 1,056 in June 2021.
As business travel returns to normalcy, the domestic passenger traffic grew to around 10.5 million in June 2022 from 3.1 million in June 2021 and was only 12 percent lower compared to pre-covid level of 12.0 million seen in June 2019,
On a sequential basis, the domestic air passenger traffic in June 2022 was around 13 percent lower than May 2022, primarily due to the seasonality impact related to the re-opening of schools, ICRA added.
The airlines’ capacity deployment for June 2022 was 1.6 times higher than in June 2021 but on a sequential basis, the number of departures in June 2022 was lower by around 4 percent compared to May 2022.
In terms of the passenger load factor, the average number of passengers per flight during June 2022 was 127, lower than an average of 140 passengers per flight in May 2022 and an average of 139 passengers per flight in June 2019.
The recovery in passenger traffic is expected to be relatively faster in the current financial year with the return to normalcy situation. However, an overhang of any further Covid wave looms on the sector.
There are also added risks due to elevated ATF prices, which have risen by 120Percent on year. Also, the situation has been further aggravated by geo-political issues due to
Russia-Ukraine conflict. These issues will remain a near-term challenge for the industry, ICRA added.
The recent depreciation of rupee has further added to the industry woes, ICRA said.
(Edited by : Anand Singha)
