Domestic Air Passenger Traffic In FY22 Up 59%, 40% Lower Than Pre-Pandemic Levels: ICRA

ICRA expects elevated ATF rates, aggravated by geo-political issues, to remain a near-term challenge for the industry, and will be a key determinant of profitability for the sector

New Delhi: The domestic air passenger traffic in India is likely to have expanded by 59 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to 8.4 crore in FY22, according to a report by the ICRA published on Monday.

However, according to the credit ratings agency's report, it is still nearly 40 per cent lower as compared to the pre-pandemic levels.

ICRA also expects higher aviation turbine fuel (ATF) rates, aggravated by geo-political issues, to remain a near-term challenge for the industry, and will be a key determinant of profitability for the sector.

According to a report by the PTI, on a sequential basis, domestic passenger traffic spiked about 37 per cent to 1.06 crore in March, driven by a near to normalcy in airline operations owing to waning of impact of the pandemic, ICRA said.

The passenger traffic on local air routes was 77 lakh in February 2022, it added.

Traffic growth in March this year stood at 35 per cent as compared to over 78 lakh in the year-ago month, it said.

Capacity of airlines deployment for March 2022 registered growth of 12 per cent at 80,217 departures, as compared to over 71,548 departures clocked in the same month of last year, ICRA said.

Domestic departures logged 42 per cent growth in March this year over the previous month, driven by increased pace of vaccination and rapid abatement of the third wave of Covid-19, which allowed for quick lifting of travel restrictions, the ratings agency said.

"Domestic passenger traffic for FY22 is estimated at around 84 million, YoY growth of 59 per cent, marginally higher than our estimate of 8-8.2 crore, although it is around 40 per cent lower than pre-Covid levels, vice-president and sector head, ICRA Suprio Banerjee said.

For March this year, the average daily departures were at around 2,588, higher than the average daily departures of around 2,308 in March 2021, and notably higher compared to around 2,023 in February 2022, he said.

The average number of passengers per flight during March this year was at 132, against an average of 135 passengers per flight in February, Banerjee added.