Number Crunch - In crisis, passenger traffic hit more than cargo

In times of economic crisis, air passenger traffic undergoes a sharper decline than cargo freight. An analysis of domestic air passenger traffic prior to the 2008 global financial crisis shows that the passenger load factor of scheduled airlines rose consistently from 64.9 per cent in 2004-05 to 68.9 per cent in 2007-08. In tandem, passenger traffic more than doubled during the period. But in 2008-09, the year of the crisis, the PLF declined drastically to 63.7 per cent, with the number of passengers declining by 11.1 per cent.
In the case of cargo, the weight load factor (WLF) rose from 63.9 per cent in 2004-05 to 67.1 per cent in 2005-06 and 2006-07. This was accompanied by an 8.7 per cent increase in volumes. But the WLF subsequently fell to 65.7 per cent as the crisis first began to manifest itself in 2007-08, though volumes still rose by 13.6 per cent.
14/07/12 Arvind Jayaram/Business Line

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Categories: airports Jul 2012, Cargo Jul 2012, Indian Aviation- In General Jul 2012