Air traffic in February slows down due to surge in Covid 19 cases

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