INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Shares of Indian airlines InterGlobe Aviation and SpiceJet surged on Friday after regulatory data showed that passenger growth jumped 136.6
per cent last month as the government started to ease COVID-related travel restrictions.The government had halted air travel in March 2020
as the country went into a lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus
Domestic flights resumed in May 2020, but air travel ever since has had some limitations as the pandemic progressed.Domestic airlines
carried 6.7 million passengers in August, compared with 2.8 million passengers in the year-ago period, the Directorate General of Civil
Aviation said on Thursday.InterGlobe Aviation, which runs India's largest airline IndiGo, extended gains to a fourth session and scaled a
record high of Rs 2,168.80 on Friday, while shares of SpiceJet rose up to 7.9 per cent to Rs 81.95, their highest level in two
months.Passenger load factor, a measure of how much of an airline's passenger carrying capacity has been used, jumped 11.8 per cent for
IndiGo and 6.7 per cent for SpiceJet in August from prior month.IndiGo Chief Executive Officer Ronojoy Dutta said in July that he expects
capacity to return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year, but warned that a third wave of infections could swiftly disrupt things
again.SpiceJet stock was down 20 per cent for the year, as of last close, while shares of InterGlobe have climbed roughly 15 per cent over
