Air passenger volume in India expected to reach pre-pandemic level; dip in Jan an aberration

Total air passenger traffic in India, an aggregate of domestic and international passenger movement at Indian airports as tracked by the Airport Authority of India (AAI), saw a significant decline in January 2022 at 15.27 million as against 25.12 million in December 2021. The traffic volume in January 2022 was also lower than the 16.73 million recorded in January of 2021.

However, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had emphatically stated in late February 2022 that the airline traffic volume is expected to regain pre-Covid levels by April 2022.

While the dip in air passenger traffic volume was mainly caused by the steep rise in Covid cases that month, the rapid decline in daily Covid cases toward the end-January will result in the passenger volume picking up appreciably.

Regular international flight services will resume in India from March 27. This was announced by the Civil Aviation Minister informed Rajya Sabha in the Question Hour on March 14.