The weekend (April 30) turned out to be a ‘Super Sunday’ of sorts for the Ministry of Civil Aviation as domestic air passenger traffic touched an “all-time high” of 4,56,082 travellers in a single day. This is the highest turnover of domestic air passengers since November 2022. Prior to Covid, the average daily domestic traffic was 3,98,579 passengers.
According to the Aviation Ministry, on Sunday 4,56,082 passengers were ferried on the 2,978 flights. On April 29, as many as 4.50 lakh domestic flyers were ferried on 2,975 flights by scheduled airlines.
In a tweet, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that the country’s civil aviation sector is setting new records every day. Post Covid, the skyrocketing domestic air passenger number is a sign of the country’s rising growth and prosperity, he added.
Earlier, the Ministry of Civil Aviation tweeted, “Indian Domestic Air Travel Hits New High, surpasses pre-Covid Average, on April 30. India’s domestic air traffic reaches new heights with an all-time high!”
In March, domestic carriers flew 128.93 lakh passengers, an increase of 21.4 per cent compared to the period a year-ago. During January-March, airlines carried 375.04 lakh fliers, according to Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) study, a revival in domestic travel to the pre-pandemic level has propelled India to the big league of major aviation markets.
Domestic travel in India missed the pre-Covid level by 2.2 per cent in February 2023 in terms of passenger revenue kilometres (PRK), the study said.
The growth in domestic travel is also seen in the Passenger Load Factor (PLF), which studies how efficiently an airline fills seats and generates revenue. India is the top domestic market in terms of PLF when compared to countries such as the US, China and Japan, it said. India recorded PLFs of 81.6 per cent in February, 85.2 per cent in January, 88.9 per cent in December 2022, and 87.9 per cent in November 2022.
Domestic air passenger traffic for all markets measured for February surged 25.2 per cent over the period a year-ago. Total February 2023 domestic traffic was at 97.2 per cent of the February 2019 level.