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Domestic air passenger traffic declined by 53%  to 11 million in the April-June period as compared to the January-March period this year, minister of state for civil aviation V K Singh said on Wednesday. Due to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and various restrictions imposed by state governments on flights and passengers, full-scale domestic flight operations have not been resumed, he mentioned.

Airline Industry financially troubled

“The domestic passenger traffic has decreased from over 23 million in January-March 2021 to around 11 million in the April-June period, a decline of around 53%. This has had an adverse impact on the financial position of the airline industry,” the minister noted.

As per the directive from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Indian airliners are authorised to operate only 65% of the total number of flights they used to operate prior to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Also, a total of 5,637 domestic flights were cancelled in March-June period this year amid the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the minister said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

According to the aviation industry data, the total number of employees of domestic airlines has declined from around 74,800 as on March 31, 2020 to around 66,900 as on March 31, 2021, a decline of over 7,900 employees, the minister mentioned.