India air passenger traffic logs around 25 per cent MoM growth in August

The rating agency ICRA in its latest report has said that India’s air passenger traffic logged around 25 per cent month-on-month (MoM) growth of 26 lakh passengers in August with airlines rising capacity by 27 per cent in July. However, it said that the passenger traffic on the YoY basis plunged by 77 per cent in August.

Overall, the passenger traffic jumped by 19 per cent till August 31, with transporters flying over 70 lakh passengers during the period, after the reopening of services in a categorised way on domestic routes from May 25, following a two-month pause. It added that the capacity deployment at around 33 per cent YoY was rather a slow uptick despite the recommencement of operations over three months ago.

As per the report, the average number of passengers per flight during August was 98 against the average of 133 passengers per flight in August last year and added that the domestic aviation industry was presumed to function at a passenger load factor (PLF) of around 63 per cent in the previous month as against 85.1 per cent in August 2019, that too on very low capacity.

The agency further said that the PLF for August 2020 has sequentially improved from around 55 per cent in July this year despite the increase in capacity deployment by around 19 per cent. While the scheduled international operations are yet to start, the Civil Aviation Ministry has allowed international operations under the Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) and air transport bubbles (ATB).