However, the domestic traffic in April 2022 was almost flat compared to the traffic in March 2022
With covid restrictions at ease in most parts of the world and the travel industry getting back on its feet, air traffic has also picked up. According to a latest report by Icra, the domestic air passenger traffic spotted a sharp increase — 83% — year on year in the month of April 2022. The traffic reached almost pre-pandemic levels, showcasing a recovery since the last two years. In April, the airlines’ capacity deployment was 36% higher than last year and nearly touched the pre-covid levels.
In April 2022, domestic passenger traffic grew to 10.5 million, which was only 5% lower than the pre-covid levels — 11 million — in April 2019. Not only this, even international passenger traffic for Indian carriers surged in April 2022, to 1.85 million, marginally surpassing the pre-covid levels.
With travel resuming at a rapid rate, the number of departures also increased in April 2022 as compared to April 2021 — 81,777 and 59,967 respectively. In fact, the daily average departures were also higher in April 2022 at 2,726 than the daily average of 2,000 departures in April 2021. The daily average departures were also higher when compared to March 2022, where the average was 2,588.
Data also indicates that the average number of passengers per flight in April 2022 were 128, slightly less than both — 133 in March 2022 and 135 in April 2019. However, the domestic traffic in April 2022 was almost flat compared to the traffic in March 2022.