How was air traffic in August? Check details

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Credit rating agency ICRA on September 6 said that August witnessed an upward growth trajectory in domestic air passenger traffic with volumes climbing up by 31% to 66 lakh as compared to the previous month. However, on a YoY basis the traffic has spiked at around 131% over August 2020 traffic of 2.83 million passengers, it said. The traffic in August 2020 was 51 lakh.

Despite the continued recovery in the previous month, there is continued stress on demand, driven largely by the second wave of the pandemic which had limited travelling on an necessary basis, the ratings agency said.

Number of passengers per flights increases in August

In August 2021, capacity deployment for airlines was around 99% higher at around 57,500 departures as against 28,834 departures in August 2020, it said. The number of departures in August 2021 were higher by around 22% as compared to August 2020 which was on a downward trajectory due to Covid-19 infections.

The average number of passengers per flight during August 2021 was 114, against an average of 106 passengers per flight in July 2021, it said.

The average daily departures were at  around 1,900 for August 2021 which was significantly higher than the average daily departures of around 900 in August 2020, and higher than around 1,500 in July 2021, though it remains lower than around 2,000 in April 2021, ICRA said.

It also stated, it will allow airlines to recoup some part of the increase in jet fuel prices, thereby cushioning some impact on the airlines losses.