Covid-19 second wave to put a brake on passenger traffic recovery at Indian airports: ICRA

The domestic passenger traffic which witnessed a steady ramp-up post resumption of airport operations from May 25, 2020, reaching 64% of the previous year levels in February 2021 has again suffered a setback. As per ICRA note, the spike in Covid-19 infections towards March-end and April 2021 has resulted in several state governments implementing fresh restrictions, resulting in marginal de-growth in traffic in March 2021 (-0.7% M-o-M) compared to February 2021 (+1.4% M-o-M). The average daily number of departing passengers during March 2021 stood at 2.49 lakh and declined by 28% M-o-M in April 2021 to 1.79 lakh.  There was a further dip of 56% from May 1, 2021 to May 16, 2021, compared to the average of April 2021.

Giving more insights, Mr. Shubham Jain, Senior Vice President, Corporate Ratings, ICRA, says “In addition to the passengers being apprehensive for air travel, increase in infections forced many state governments to implement strict covid-19 restrictions during last two months on air travel. The second wave of Covid-19 infections is likely to delay recovery in traffic. The passenger traffic growth is now estimated at 80%-85% Y-o-Y in FY2022 as against our earlier projection of 130%-135% Y-o-Y. This is factoring in the assumption that majority of population (above 18+ years) will be vaccinated by December 2021, in line with the GoI’s vaccination policy targets, and impact of third wave (if any) to be minimal due to mass vaccination. ICRA expects domestic air travel to recover back to pre-Covid levels by FY2023 and the international sector by FY2024.”

The international traffic remains limited to countries with special flights under the Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) rescue operation flights and bilateral ‘Air Transport Bubble (ATB)’ agreements. Many countries like the US, the UK, Singapore, Kuwait, France, Canada, Australia, Iran, Indonesia and the UAE, which had ATB arrangements or under the VBM, have temporarily banned flights from India, citing the increasing coronavirus infections.

24/05/21 India Infoline

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Categories: Airports May 2021