Air travel in May drops to July ’20 levels

NEW DELHI: The peak month of Covid’s devastating second wave — May 2021 — saw the number of domestic flyers falling to levels seen just after scheduled flights were allowed to resume following a two-month suspension last year.
According to DGCA data, 21.1 lakh people flew within the country last month. Domestic flights were suspended for two months from March 25 to May 24, 2020, during last year’s lockdown. June and July, 2020, had seen 19.8 lakh and just over 21 lakh domestic flyers, respectively, according to DGCA data.
When the first wave ebbed and daily Covid cases started falling, domestic flights saw an increase in the number of passengers — with the peak of 78 lakh in a month being touched twice in February and March, 2021.
As the second wave unleashed its ferocity, the numbers first dropped to 57 lakh in April and then crashed to 21.1 lakh in May, 2021 — a figure seen in the first two months after domestic flights’ resumption on May 25, 2020. Last month saw only 8,000 more domestic flyers than July 2020.