New Delhi, Nov 14 (Mayank Nigam) With the onset of the festive season travel, the domestic passenger traffic registered a growth of 11 per cent on month-on-month (MoM) basis and over 30 per cent on year-on-year (YoY) basis in October 2022, rating agency ICRA said on Monday. Domestic traffic stood at 22.7 million, 95% of pre-Covid levels (similar period in FY2020) in October 2022, the agency said. ”Overall, the recovery in domestic passenger traffic has been strong since April 2022 supported by the reopening of offices, increase in business and leisure travel.
Post resumption of international commercial operations from March 27, 2022, international passenger traffic has steadily increased and reached 83% of pre-Covid levels in October 2022. International traffic witnessed 6% sequential growth to 4.7 million in October 2022. Overall passenger traffic stood at 27.4 million, a 10% MoM growth and recovered to 93% of pre-Covid-levels in October 2022,” it said. Vinay Kumar G, Vice President, Corporate Ratings, ICRA, said, “Passenger traffic is expected to sustain the healthy growth momentum backed by the festive, vacation season along with the back-to-work decisions by most key corporates. With strong rebound and healthy momentum in domestic passenger traffic and the uptick in international passenger, the overall air passenger traffic is likely to cross pre-Covid levels of 341 million passengers on a forward looking 12-month period (Sep-22 to Aug-23).” ”ICRA expects domestic passenger traffic to reach 97-98% of pre-Covid levels (FY2020) in FY2023 and international traffic to reach 87%-90% of pre-Covid levels by end-FY2023. Supported by passenger traffic, the aircraft traffic is likely to display a 45-47% YoY growth and reach pre-Covid levels during FY2023,” he said.