Domestic air passenger traffic jumps 33.6 per cent MoM in October: DGCA

Data from industry regulator DGCA has showed that Domestic air traffic jumped by 33.67 per cent month-on-month in October 2020, continuing a gradual and steady rebound after flights resumed in May after the lockdown. It disclosed that 52.71 lakh people took to the air in October 2020 as against 39.43 lakh in September 2020. The growth rate in September was a bit higher at 39 per cent.

However, Year-on-year the numbers are still lower and were down 57.2 per cent from October 2019. At the same time, the drop was less steep. In September, year-on-year traffic declined by 65.82 per cent. For the year till October, the industry saw a total of 4.93 crore passengers, a drop of 58.27 per cent from the same period a year ago.

Domestic flights had restarted on May 25, after they had been suspended in March end due to to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the latest data from the Ministry of Civil Aviation shows that flights have touched 60 per cent of their pre-COVID-19 levels. Passenger traffic is now near half of the prior level.

Looking at the price history, Spicejet has jumped 55 per cent, Interglobe Aviation (Indigo) has jumped 26 per cent and Jet Airways has jumped 38 per cent in last one month.