Mumbai : As the number of Covid-19 infections rose, domestic passenger traffic for the Indian aviation sector crashed to around 1.9 to 2 million in May this year from around 5.73 million in April, revealed rating agency Icra. It also said the average number of flights that departed daily was around 900 in May—significantly lower than the 2,000 departures in April this year. The agency said the average number of passengers per flight during May was 72 against an average of 93 passengers per flight in April, 2021.“The gradual decline depicts the continuous stress on demand, driven largely by the second wave of Covid-19, limiting travel to [people] only taking flights when necessary,” said Kinjal Shah, vice president and co-group head, Icra.

According to Icra, there was a sequential decline of approximately 65-67% in domestic passenger traffic from April to May this year, which, said Shah, meant that “domestic passenger traffic was lower than the June-July 2020 levels.”“Icra said that the airlines’ capacity deployment for May was lower by 54% to 55% compared to April (around 27,700 departures in May, against around 60,300 departures in April), indicating the lower demand stemmed from the averseness of consumers to travel due to the rise in infections,” Shah added.

Mumbai : As the number of Covid-19 infections rose, domestic passenger traffic for the Indian aviation sector crashed to around 1.9 to 2 million in May this year from around 5.73 million in April, revealed rating agency Icra. It also said the average number of flights that departed daily was around 900 in May—significantly lower than the 2,000 departures in April this year. The agency said the average number of passengers per flight during May was 72 against an average of 93 passengers per flight in April, 2021.“The gradual decline depicts the continuous stress on demand, driven largely by the second wave of Covid-19, limiting travel to [people] only taking flights when necessary,” said Kinjal Shah, vice president and co-group head, Icra.

According to Icra, there was a sequential decline of approximately 65-67% in domestic passenger traffic from April to May this year, which, said Shah, meant that “domestic passenger traffic was lower than the June-July 2020 levels.”“Icra said that the airlines’ capacity deployment for May was lower by 54% to 55% compared to April (around 27,700 departures in May, against around 60,300 departures in April), indicating the lower demand stemmed from the averseness of consumers to travel due to the rise in infections,” Shah added.