New Delhi: According to an ICRA report published on Monday, domestic air passenger traffic in India is expected to grow 59 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to 84 million in FY22.
However, according to the credit rating agency report, it is still about 40 per cent lower than the pre-pandemic level.
ICRA expects higher aviation turbine fuel (ATF) rates, aggravated by geopolitical issues, to remain a near-term challenge for the industry, and a key determinant of profitability for the sector.
According to a report by PTI, on a sequential basis, domestic passenger traffic grew by about 37 per cent to 1.06 crore in March, which was nearing normalcy in airline operations due to the impact of the pandemic, ICRA said.
Passenger traffic on local air routes stood at 7.7 million in February 2022.
The traffic growth in March this year was 35 per cent, which was more than 7.8 million in the same month a year ago.
ICRA said the airlines’ deployment capacity for March 2022 registered a growth of 12 per cent on 80,217 departures as compared to over 71,548 departures in the same month last year.
The rating agency said domestic departures registered a 42 per cent increase in March this year compared to the previous month, driven by an increase in the pace of vaccinations and a rapid reduction of the third wave of COVID-19, which has accelerated travel restrictions. allowed to lift.
“Domestic passenger traffic for FY12 is around 84 million, a year-on-year growth of 59 per cent, slightly higher than our estimate of 8-82 crore, though it is about 40 per cent lower than pre-Covid levels, vice and region. Chief, ICRA Supriyo Banerjee said.
He said that for March this year, the average daily departures were around 2,588, which was higher than the average daily departures of around 2,308 in March 2021, and notably higher than around 2,023 in February 2022.
Banerjee said the average number of passengers per flight during March this year was 132, while in February the average number of passengers per flight was 135.