As per rating firm, ICRA, due to Covid-19 pandemic, the ongoing capacity expansion plans at the major airports are expected to be delayed by 12 to 18 month.
Domestic air passenger traffic grew by a whopping 67 per cent year-on-year at around 87-88 lakh in October, on the back of festive season demand amid continuous fall in the number of COVID-19
On October 3, Delhi airport handled over 125,000 passengers (domestic and international) arriving or taking off
ICRA also said the cargo volumes are likely to grow around 36 per cent in 2021-22 and six per cent in 2022-23 after a 25 per cent contraction this fiscal, reaching pre-COVID-19 levels in 2021-22
The total number of passengers flown by the Indian carriers on domestic routes in January 2020 was 10.2 million
ICRA also said that the November domestic passenger traffic was close to 50 per cent of the domestic air travel demand in November 2019
Domestic air passenger volume fell 57.21 per cent to 52.71 lakh in October over the year ago period, as airlines continued to operate at a much lower capacity, the DGCA data showed on Wednesday.
Recovery in domestic air passenger traffic continued in September with a sequential growth about 37-39 per cent in passenger volume in the previous month over August, ratings agency Icra said
The airline said it is "facing serious financial crunch/cash flow situation"
It also said the aviation infrastructure industry is amongst the most severely impacted by the Covid-19 crisis and the setback is expected to be substantial in the near term
Domestic air travel resumed on Monday after a span of two months and a majority of passengers in the first four days were those, who were left stranded in different parts of the country.
Flights were grounded for seven days in March but weak sentiments worsen fall
In the period under consideration, the domestic passenger traffic fall in China was at 65.5 per cent, Japan at 55.8 and followed by that of US at 48.1 per cent
The International Air Transport Association (IATA), however, said global passenger traffic dived 52.9 per cent compared to the same period a year ago.
With 83.4%, AirAsia India was number one in on-time performance measured at four metro cities -- Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.
Airlines flew 12.7 million passengers last month compared to 12.5 million passengers on YoY basis.
Grounding of Boeing 737Max aircraft and ongoing issues with AirbusA320Neo engines, too, has slowed down capacity growth
"However, economic growth (in India) in the third quarter was the weakest in around six years amid a broad-based slowdown that is affecting many sectors of the economy", IATA said
The sectoral regulator attributed the increase in the reporting month to the onset of tourist season
The domestic air traffic last month consisted of 12.31 million passengers compared to 11.84 million passengers in the same month last year