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Domestic air traffic to fall by 41-46% in FY21 owing to COVID-19 impact: Icra
Jul-06-2020

Ratings agency ICRA in its latest the report has said that the recommencement of commercial passenger flight services in a graded manner is unlikely to help the domestic aviation industry recover in the current financial year (FY21) with domestic air traffic expected to shrink by 41-46% and international travel demand by a negative 67-72% year-on-year owing to COVID-19.  However, it said H2 FY2021 will witness some recovery, with Q4 FY21 witnessing a de-growth of just 3-14 per cent y-o-y in domestic with improved passenger load factors (PLFs).

The agency said it expects the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak to be more profound and long lasting on international travel compared to domestic travel. For June, the domestic passenger traffic was 19.5 lakh, as against 119.9 lakh in June 2019, a de-growth of 83.7 per cent over the year-ago period. The average number of passengers per flight during June was 90, as against an average of 139 passengers per flight in June last year.

The domestic passenger flight services restarted from May 25 after a two months hiatus due to the lockdown in the wake of coronavirus pandemic. The international operations, however, remained suspended since March 22 for similar reasons. The government extended the suspension of scheduled international flights till July 30. However, it said that some international scheduled routes may be permitted on a case-to-case basis.

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