Omicron dents India's domestic air passenger traffic growth in January

Covid's third wave triggered by the Omicron variant pulled down India's domestic air passenger traffic growth in January 2022 on a year-on-year basis.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), India's domestic air passenger volume on a year-on-year basis -- measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) -- was the lowest amongst major aviation markets such as Australia, Brazil, China, Japan, Russia, and the US.

The traffic declined by (-) 18 per cent over January 2021 level. "India's domestic RPKs fell by 18 per cent year-on-year in January... the biggest decline recorded for any of the domestic markets tracked by IATA," the association said in its Air Passenger Market Analysis for January 2022.

"On a month-on-month basis, seasonally adjusted RPKs dropped by nearly 45 per cent between December and January."

The country's domestic available passenger capacity -- measured in available seat kilometres (ASK) -- was down (-) 13.7 per cent YoY.

In January, certain travel restrictions were re-imposed by state government's in the wake of the third Covid wave.