Aviation Boom: 88 Lakh Indians Booked Air Tickets In October; Domestic Traffic Rises By 67% In One Year

A report published by credit ratings agency ICRA has stated that the volume of passenger traffic has risen by a whopping 67% YoY to almost 87-88 lakh in October 2021, led by reducing Covid-19 cases and the increasing travel during festive season across India.

In the same month last year, the passenger count was recorded at 52.71 lakh. ICRA also informed that the domestic passenger traffic has hiked almost 25% sequentially.

Domestic Passenger Traffic Figures for October 2021

Here are the highlights of ICRA’s report, concerning the rise in domestic passenger traffic for the month of October:

• Domestic airlines operated a total of about 72,000 flights in Oct, compared to 49,150 flights in October last year. This is a 46.4% increase on a YoY basis, while the number of departures for the month increased about 18% sequentially.
• The average daily departures hiked to 2,400, up 51.4% compared to October 2020, and 14.2% sequentially.
• The average number of passengers/flight increased to 122, against 117 in September 2021.

Soaring ATF Prices to Pose a Challenge

As per the report, the surging prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) will continue to pose a near-term challenge with price seeing a sequential increase of 13.9% in November 2021.

For the aviation sector, the soaring crude prices globally is a strong headwind for its performance, as ATF prices have risen 94.4% YoY till November 2021.

On October 18, 2021, the Civil Aviation Ministry allowed all airlines to operate at 100% capacity, given the lowering count of fresh Covid-19 infections, and the onset of the festive season.

The Ministry had earlier reduced the passenger capacity for domestic airlines to 50%, w.e.f. June 1, 2021, due to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“Though the recovery continued in October, demand continues to be subdued from the corporate traveller segment as reflected by passenger traffic being lower by around 28 per cent in October 2021, compared to pre-COVID levels,” stated Suprio Banerjee, Vice President and Sector Head at ICRA.