Domestic air travel demand takes flight as Covid-19 cases begin to decline

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The demand for travel has started to grow again with declining Covid-19 cases and easing of lockdown restrictions in the country.

According to a report in The Economic Times, many airlines and travel portals have reported a 100% increase in bookings.

The bookings of Indigo, India’s largest carrier in terms of market share and capacity, also doubled since May 2021. Experts believe that the ramped-up vaccination drive will further help the sector to revive.

Domestic carriers together ferried over 85,000 passengers on June 6.

Travel portals have also reported an increase in bookings. “Recently, we saw an increase of over 40% in overall bookings of flights from the travel lows that the sector was facing a week back,” Rikant Pitti, co-founder of EaseMyTrip told the publication.

India’s largest travel portal, MakeMyTrip witnessed an advance purchase by people on its portal which is expected to increase further with a decline in Covid-19 cases.

“Our data indicates flight bookings with an advance purchase window of over a week is on the rise which shows that people are planning travel a week or so in advance, and not just making last-minute emergency travel. With more people getting vaccinated and caseloads dropping consistently, we are seeing early signs of recovery,” said Saujanya Shrivastava, chief operating officer, Flights SBU at MakeMyTrip.