The recommencement of commercial passenger flight services in a graded manner is unlikely to help the domestic aviation industry recover in the current financial year with domestic air traffic expected to shrink by 40-45% and India’s air traffic passenger traffic in the international sector demand by a negative 60-65% in FY 21 due to COVID-19, rating agency Crisil stated on Wednesday.
The demand distruction can be gauged from the fact that even after the resumption of domestic air services,the load factor is hovering at 50-60 percent.With primarily unidirectional flow of traffic,limited largely to essential travel and those returning to their home cities or countries.In the milieu,Indian carriers are expected to log operating losses this fiscal despite lower crude oil prices.And with COVID-19 pandemic still raging in much of the world,a revival to pre-pandemic level appears unlikely even next fiscal.
The domestic passenger flight services restarted from May 25 after two months hiatus due to the lockdown in the wake of coronavirus pandemic. The international operations, however, remained suspended since March 22 for similar reasons.However,as airlines look to stimulate demand with the onset of the festive season amid the expected removal of the fare cap from end August,ticket prices on domestic routes are expected to come off from the third quarter and will on average be lower on-year this fiscal.
