The Covid-19 pandemic cut short rebound in India's air passenger traffic with March witnessing the biggest drop in at least seven years.
Passenger traffic fell 33 percent year-on-year in March after airlines had to suspend flights because of lockdowns announced to curb the spread of the contagious pathogen that causes pneumonia, according to data released by the civil aviation regulator. 77.6 lakh people took to the skies in March before the restrictions came into force.
The drop came after a month on recovery in February and before the travel curbs were imposed starting March 25. April will be much worse. That's because while the lockdown began towards the end of March, flights remained suspended throughout April.
In March, Air India reported the biggest drop in passengers followed by GoAir and IndiGo. Here's passenger traffic change by airline:
Passenger load factor, a measure of occupancy, worsened for all the airlines over a year earlier as they flew more empty seats amid the outbreak. SpiceJet's capacity utilisation fell below 90 percent for the first time in five years. Tata Group airlines – AirAsia and Vistara—recorded the worst drop.
Market share remained largely stable for all airlines. SpiceJet was able to garner 70 basis points.
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