Just when India’s aviation industry was bouncing back after a Covid 19 induced slump, the recent surge of Coronavirus cases has hit air traffic once again.

In February, passenger traffic was 36 per cent lower on a year-on-year basis. On Wednesday the total number of Covid 19 cases in India stood at over 35,800. Maharashtra alone registered over 20,000 cases.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data showed that in February, 78.27 lakh passengers were ferried compared to over 123.68 lakh in the corresponding month in the previous year.

"Passengers carried by domestic airlines during Jan-Feb 2021 were 155.61 lakh as against 251.50 lakh during the corresponding period of previous year, thereby registering annual growth of (-) 38.13 per cent and monthly growth of (-) 36.71 per cent," the DGCA data revealed.

An IANS report said that almost all airlines saw a growth in passenger load factor in October as compared to previous month, barring Pawan Hans.

The aviation sector had been one of the worst impacted by the Covid 19 pandemic. However, business was bouncing back for the airline companies.

Around June-July several airline companies including Indigo decided to cut down on its workforce as air travel was brought to a halt amid the stringent nationwide lockdown imposed on March 25 to contain the spread of the pandemic. However, with things normalising the airline majors were planning for fresh recruitments.