Domestic air passenger traffic witnesses 57 per cent growth to around 4.9 million in July 2021

According to the rating agency ICRA, the Indian aviation industry witnessed a 57 per cent growth in domestic air passenger traffic to touch around 4.9 million in July 2021, reflecting a significant sequential as well as year-on-year growth amidst a decline in Covid-19 cases. The airlines’ capacity deployment for July 2021 was around 90 per cent higher than July 2020 and there were around 47,200 departures in July 2020, compared to 24,770 departures in the year-ago period. The average number of passengers per flight during July 2021 was 104, against an average of 98 passengers per flight in June 2021. Though the recovery continued in July 2021, there is continued stress on demand, driven largely by the second wave of the pandemic, limiting travel to only necessary travel, while both leisure and business travel has been curtailed due to various state-wide restrictions, despite the decline in corona infections.