The waning Omicron wave resulted in a sequential growth in domestic air passenger traffic by 19% at 76 lakh in February 2022 compared to 64 lakh in January 2022. However, it remained marginally lower by 2% compared to 78 lakh in February 2021.
The airlines’ capacity deployment for February 2022 was around 12% lower than February 2021 (56,634 departures in February 2022 against 64,327 departures in February 2021). On a sequential basis, the number of departures in February 2022 were lower by 10%, given the overhang of the waning Omicron wave and lower number of operating days in February. However, adjusting for similar tenure of days the number of departures stood almost flat compared to last month.
As per the recent report published by ICRA on Aviation, Suprio Banerjee, vice president and sector head, ICRA said: “For February 2022, the average daily departures were at 2,023, notably lower than the average daily departures of 2,297 in January 2021, while marginally lower than 2,032 in January 2022. The average number of passengers per flight during February 2022 was at 135, against an average of 102 passengers per flight in January 2022. The sequential recovery improved in February 2022 with the waning Omicron wave and the resultant picking up of demand in passenger travel. However, due to the impact of multiple Covid waves in the current fiscal the passenger traffic for 11M FY2022 remained 44% lower than 11M FY2020 (pre-Covid level). The same is further threatened by the sharp rise in ATF prices, amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict.”
