Domestic air passenger traffic bounce back in June
Premium- About 3.11 million passengers traveled by air in June, compared with 2.12 million passengers recorded in May, according to DGCA data
Domestic air passenger traffic rose by about 47% in June, as compared to the previous month, due to easing of travel restrictions amidst a decline in fresh coronavirus infection rate across the country, leading to more people taking to the skies.
About 3.11 million passengers traveled by air in June, compared with 2.12 million passengers recorded in May, according to data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday.
However, the air passenger traffic numbers for June remain below that of April, which recorded 5.72 million air passenger traffic.
In comparison, 1.98 million people took domestic flights during June 2020, after commercial scheduled air operations were resumed following a suspension between 25 March and 25 May 2020 due to a government-imposed lockdown to contain the spread of the covid-19 pandemic.
The passenger load factor (PLF) of major scheduled commercial airlines improved in June as compared to the previous month, with major airlines IndiGo (62.7%), SpiceJet (71%), GoAir (70.9%), Air India (58.4%), Vistara (60%), and AirAsia India (54.4%) seeing better capacity utilization.
PLF measures capacity utilization of transport services, including airlines.
In terms of market share, InterGlobe Aviation Limited-operated IndiGo led the sector with a 54.7% market share in June. The airline carried
During June, IndiGo carried 1.70 million passengers compared to 1.17 million passengers in the previous month.
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Air India’s domestic market share at 16.5% as the national carrier carried 0.51 million passengers during the month against 0.43 million in May.
SpiceJet carried 0.28 million passengers, constituting a 9% market share, and GoAir carried 0.26 million passengers, registering a 8.3% market share, during June.
Vistara and AirAsia India carried about 0.23 million and 0.11 million passengers, respectively, during June. During June, Vistara's market share jumped to 7.2% from 4.6% in May. AirAsia India recorded a market share of 3.4% during the same period.
The DGCA has allowed airlines to sell seats up to 65% of an airline’s pre-covid capacity on domestic flights earlier in July paving way for airlines to deploy more capacity on domestic routes. The government has during the ongoing covid-19 pandemic imposed a capacity cap to prevent the spread of infection. Scheduled international commercial flights remain suspended, at least till 31 July. The restriction does not apply to international all-cargo flights, those under bilateral air bubble agreements, and those specifically approved by the aviation regulator.
However, with the declining number of fresh covid-19 infections, since late May-early June, air passenger traffic has been on a rise.
Morgan Stanley Research expects the Indian aviation industry to operate at over 80% of average pre-covid capacity by the third quarter (October-December 2021) of this financial year, assuming that there is no further impact or third wave of covid-19 pandemic.
"Overall, we estimate 92mn (million) domestic passengers in FY22 vs 141mn in FY20. In FY23e (FY23 estimated), we expect domestic traffic to cross FY20's level and expect 144mn domestic passengers," the report released on 6 July added.
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