Festivals fail to boost air travel above pre-COVID level in October

The daily average air passenger traffic in October, despite full-fledged Dussehra and Diwali celebrations, remained at around 360,000 air passengers. These numbers fell short of the pre-COVID level which was nearly 400,000 passengers, belaying expectations of a full recovery.

The seven-day data from 19-25 October, as reported by Livemint, states that the average daily air passenger traffic was around 350,000. And, the daily flight departures were 2,700 flights, which was 2,900 flights in the pre-COVID era.

Previously, when the world was not introduced to the work-from-home concept, people working away from their houses used to visit their homes during the festive season. However, the tables have turned post the pandemic.

EaseMyTrip co-founder, Rikant Pittie told Livemint that multiple companies, even after the pandemic, have continued with the hybrid setup or work-from-home, following which the need to travel has dropped. He said, “Post the pandemic, multiple companies are still continuing with work-from-home or hybrid work, allowing their employees to stay at home or wherever they prefer. With many people already home, there is little need for travelling.”

While travel demand has been below expectations, the air traffic in the festival season remained much higher than during 2020, 2021 and the year so far.

Pittie highlights that in the past week, airfares for major cities in India, including Delhi and Mumbai, have witnessed a rise of 20-25%. So far in October, the daily air passenger traffic has witnessed a jump of 6% from the preceding month, and flight departures have also spiked by 4%.

In the month of October, air traffic witnessed two extremes - high demand and lowest demand. On 9 October, with airports handling 402,697 passengers and 2,732 flight departures, domestic air traffic crossed the pre-covid level. In the festive month, the lowest demand was recorded on the day of Diwali, 24 October at 280,807 air passengers.

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