Delhi to Mumbai flight for less than Rs 2,500! Bengaluru to Kolkata flights for just Rs 3,600! The novel coronavirus has stung the domestic aviation sector hard. Large-scale flight cancellations and poor demand are reflecting on the airfares of airlines across the board. So far, the domestic carriers have suspended flights on some international routes, domestic flight schedule still remains intact. But that's going to change if the demand stays lull for a longer period, and cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) increase in India.
"For the first three weeks of February, the domestic traffic growth was almost similar to January but the demand tanked by 2-4 per cent in the last week of February. March is expected to witness substantial drop in air travel demand with forward bookings (for flying schedules over the next two months) are down by about 20 per cent," says an aviation analyst. In January, the domestic air traffic growth stood at mere 2.2 per cent, and the demand in February and March is likely to show negative growth compared to last year.
In fact, the PLF (passenger load factors) or occupancy rates for all airlines except Vistara shrunk in January. The drop was more pronounced for carriers such as AirAsia India and IndiGo.
Analysts predict that airlines such as IndiGo, SpiceJet and Air India are closely monitoring the development on the coronavirus front, and will soon take a call on truncating their domestic flight schedule. "In metro routes like Delhi to Mumbai, IndiGo could curtail its frequency from about 16 now to 12-13 owing to weak demand. Though reducing frequencies in non-metro routes could create hassle for passengers," says the analyst. Let's understand with an example. Suppose if IndiGo is flying between Delhi and Mumbai in every 1.5 hours, it's easy for the airline to adjust passengers from one flight to the next flight. But that's not possible in, let's say, an Amritsar to Mumbai flight whose daily frequency is just three. "They cannot simply push a morning flight passenger to an afternoon flight. It could hurt the airline's perception and create dissatisfaction," says the analyst.
11/03/20 Manu Kaushik/Business Today
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"For the first three weeks of February, the domestic traffic growth was almost similar to January but the demand tanked by 2-4 per cent in the last week of February. March is expected to witness substantial drop in air travel demand with forward bookings (for flying schedules over the next two months) are down by about 20 per cent," says an aviation analyst. In January, the domestic air traffic growth stood at mere 2.2 per cent, and the demand in February and March is likely to show negative growth compared to last year.
In fact, the PLF (passenger load factors) or occupancy rates for all airlines except Vistara shrunk in January. The drop was more pronounced for carriers such as AirAsia India and IndiGo.
Analysts predict that airlines such as IndiGo, SpiceJet and Air India are closely monitoring the development on the coronavirus front, and will soon take a call on truncating their domestic flight schedule. "In metro routes like Delhi to Mumbai, IndiGo could curtail its frequency from about 16 now to 12-13 owing to weak demand. Though reducing frequencies in non-metro routes could create hassle for passengers," says the analyst. Let's understand with an example. Suppose if IndiGo is flying between Delhi and Mumbai in every 1.5 hours, it's easy for the airline to adjust passengers from one flight to the next flight. But that's not possible in, let's say, an Amritsar to Mumbai flight whose daily frequency is just three. "They cannot simply push a morning flight passenger to an afternoon flight. It could hurt the airline's perception and create dissatisfaction," says the analyst.
11/03/20 Manu Kaushik/Business Today
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