Subdued demand from corporate flyers; Average number passenger per flight dipped to 113 in September from 117 in August

New Delhi, Oct 6 (Agency) The average number of domestic passengers per flight during September 2021 was 113 as against an average of 117 passengers per flight in August 2021, as per research firm ICRA. “Though the recovery continued in September 2021, demand continues to be subdued from the corporate traveller segment as reflected by passenger traffic being lower by 38 per cent in September 2021 compared to pre-Covid levels,” said Suprio Banerjee, Vice President & Sector Head at ICRA. The domestic air passenger traffic grew by 2-3 per cent at around 68-69 lakh in September 2021, compared to 67 lakh in August 2021.

The airlines’ capacity deployment for September 2021 was around 54 per cent higher than September 2020 (61,100 departures in September 2021, against 39,628 departures in September 2020). On a sequential basis, the number of departures in September 2021 were higher by 6 per cent as Covid-19 infections showed a downward trend. ICRA noted that elevated aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices continue to pose a near term challenge to the recovery. In the wake of a surge in daily Covid infections, the government had reduced the permissible capacity deployment to 50 per cent of pre-Covid levels with effect from June, 2021. It had increased the permitted capacity to 72.5 per cent with effect from August 12, 2021 but has now permitted increasing the capacity to 85 per cent.