Domestic air passenger traffic has gone up in the past two months
Domestic air passenger traffic grew 31 per cent in August 2021 to touch 66 lakh, compared to 51 lakh in July 2021, according to a report by credit ratings agency ICRA. The growth was witnessed mainly due to the Civil Aviation Ministry increasing capacity deployment on domestic routes.
On a year-on-year basis, the domestic traffic grew by 131 per cent in August 2021 over August 2020, when it was 28 lakh.
The ratings agency said that there is continued stress on demand despite recovery visible in the last two months.
The airlines' capacity deployment in August 2021 was at around 57,500 departures, as against 28,834 departures in August 2020, which was an increase of around 99 per cent, the report said.
"For August 2021, the average daily departures were at around 1,900, significantly higher than the average daily departures of around 900 in August 2020, and higher than around 1,500 in July 2021, though it remains lower than around 2,000 in April 2021," the report noted.
The average number of passengers per flight during August 2021 was 114, against an average of 106 passengers per flight in July 2021, she said.
Capacity deployment on domestic routes has been increased by Civil Aviation Ministry, as it had permitted the capacity to be increased to up to 75 per cent from August 12, 2021 onwards.
