Rating agency ICRA has said that domestic passenger air traffic remained low in April-December 2021
Mumbai:
According to rating agency ICRA, domestic air passenger traffic was 44 per cent lower at 111 lakh in April-December 2021 as compared to the corresponding period of 2019-20.
According to a report by the rating agency, the total domestic passenger traffic in December 2020 stood at 73 lakhs.
It also said that the emergence of the new coronavirus variant and reactionary restrictions affecting air travel posed near-total challenges for the airline industry.
ICRA said in a statement on Monday that on a sequential basis, the growth in December was recorded at 5-6 per cent as compared to November 2021, during which the Indian carrier carried 105 lakh passengers.
Further, the average daily departures stood at around 2,800, which was higher as compared to around 2,065 in December 2020 and around 2,700 in November 2021.
At the same time, the average number of passengers per flight during December 2021 was substantially 129 as compared to 130 in November, ICRA said.
Furthermore, with the emergence of the new coronavirus variant and the recent trend of rising infections, some states have started to announce some restrictions on domestic air travel, posing a serious threat to the recovery of domestic passenger traffic in the near future. has gone.
ICRA said that domestic air passenger traffic grew by about 5-6 per cent to around 111 lakh in December 2021, as compared to around 105 lakh in November 2021.
This shows a year-on-year growth of around 52 per cent, with passenger traffic at around 73 lakh in December 2020, the report said.
ICRA also noted that a major concern that continues to be a drag on the aviation sector is Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) prices, which have seen a sharp rise of 49 per cent year-on-year till January 2022 , mainly due to the rise in crude oil prices.
This, along with the relatively low capacity utilization of the aircraft fleet, will continue to impact the Indian carrier’s financial performance in 2021-22, the agency said.
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