INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Domestic air passenger traffic has gone up in the past two monthsDomestic air passenger traffic grew 31 per cent in August 2021 to touch 66
lakh, compared to 51 lakh in July 2021, according to a report by credit ratings agency ICRA
The growth was witnessed mainly due to the Civil Aviation Ministry increasing capacity deployment on domestic routes.On a year-on-year
basis, the domestic traffic grew by 131 per cent in August 2021 over August 2020, when it was 28 lakh.The ratings agency said that there is
57,500 departures, as against 28,834 departures in August 2020, which was an increase of around 99 per cent, the report said."For August
2021, the average daily departures were at around 1,900, significantly higher than the average daily departures of around 900 in August
2020, and higher than around 1,500 in July 2021, though it remains lower than around 2,000 in April 2021," the report noted.The average
number of passengers per flight during August 2021 was 114, against an average of 106 passengers per flight in July 2021, she said.Capacity
deployment on domestic routes has been increased by Civil Aviation Ministry, as it had permitted the capacity to be increased to up to 75
per cent from August 12, 2021 onwards.
