Air traffic falls 8% y-o-y in April

Mumbai: Few passengers may have taken to the skies in April, making it the third straight month that airlines have witnessed traffic declining on a year-on-year basis, as the industry struggles to cut costs and shed excess capacity.
Air passenger traffic in the domestic sector may have fallen by 8% in April 2009 compared with last year, according to market experts and travel industry officials. The official figures for the month will be released by the civil aviation ministry next week.
Amadeus, a global technology and distribution partner to the aviation industry, estimates the fall at around 5% and predicts that the traffic may move downwards, despite aggressive fare cuts by airlines from January.
Airfares went up by almost 20% in March compared with those in January. There will be no recovery in passengers load, said an analyst with domestic brokerage firm.
Air India implemented a 70% cut in its fares two weeks ago, while Jet Airways said it start a low-fare service called Jet Airways Konnect from Friday.
09/05/09 Mithun Roy/Economic Times

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General May 2009