Domestic airlines register decline of 5.94 per cent in passenger traffic from Jan to May 2021

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 17

Battling headwinds in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, domestic scheduled airlines have registered a decline of 5.94 per cent in passenger traffic in January to May 2021 as compared to the same period in 2020.

In the first five months of this year, domestic airlines carried 312.23 lakh passengers, whereas the figure for the corresponding period last year was 331.94 lakh, according to data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) today.

Flight operations had remained totally suspended for about two months last year due to the Covid-19 lockdown and resumed gradually.

Private operators accounted for 88 per cent of the total passengers carried by scheduled airlines during January-May 2021, while state-owned Air India accounted for the remaining 12 per cent.

DGCA data also reveals that most airlines showed a decline in the passenger load factor in May 2021 as compared to April 21. Air Taxi operators, on the other hand, reported an increase in the passenger load factor during this period.

As far as passenger related complaints are concerned, a total of 338 complaints had been received by scheduled airlines in May 2021. The number of complaints has been around 1.60 per 10,000 passengers carried in May 2021. Air India had the highest ratio with 6.3, followed by a private operator with 2.7. No complaints were received by some other airlines during this month.

Among six major airlines adjudged for On-Time Performance (OTP) in May 2021 at four metro airports, Ari India fared the worst with 92.5 per cent flights being punctual. Best score was 98.7 per cent by a private operator.

Air India also had the highest number of cancellations for the month of May 2021. While the average cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines was 7.43 per cent, it was 61.29 per cent for Air India, according to DGCA. As many as 5,339 passengers were affected due to cancellations by Air India, which costed the airline Rs 5.66 lakh in compensation.

Commercial factors were cited as the reason for 67.9 per cent of cancellations across all airlines. Weather accounted for 17 per cent of the cancellations while operational reasons were behind 7.6 per cent. Technical and miscellaneous factors accounted for the remaining cancellations.