Domestic airlines fly high in September

New Delhi: India’s airlines have seen a sharp improvement in demand so far this month as states have progressively relaxed curbs and the number of flights has risen, prompting more business and leisure travel, beyond those flying due to personal emergencies. Maharashtra has doubled the number of domestic flights allowed out of Mumbai, for instance. Some carriers said passenger loads have risen as much as 10 percentage points in the early days of the month along with an increase in the number of flights.Average load factor has risen to about 70% at the top six scheduled airlines on the basis of data in the first nine days from 56% in July, industry experts estimated. The load factor is a measure of seats filled per flight and indicates demand.Airlines told ET that the reason for the revival is greater clarity on quarantine and other measures. Meanwhile, the reopening of the economy has meant that business travel is returning. “There is more confidence in flying because of various measures that the industry has taken,” said a senior airline executive. 78030578New Aviation Rules Gain Acceptance“While more clarity or changes in various states’ quarantine and arrival requirements have helped, a general return to some form of normalcy in other industries has added to demand for business travel,” added the executive.States have been opening up in stages — Goa scrapped quarantine and Covid-negative certificate requirements for tourists and West Bengal allowed flights from all six major cities, including Delhi and Mumbai. While Karnataka abolished quarantine requirements for arriving passengers, Mumbai and Chennai airports were allowed to operate double the number of flights allowed earlier.However, the executive said the airline sector has a long way to go before it can get back to pre-Covid levels.Another airline executive said that people have accepted the new protocols associated with flying — online check-in, distancing, sanitising, masks, face shields — and have started travelling for leisure as well. Besides, some groups are booking entire business class sections and others are buying a second seat to ensure an empty one next to them to ensure distancing.“People have accepted that they have to live with the virus and this is going to be the norm for times to come. There is leisure as well as business travel happening, which is an encouraging trend,” said an executive with a low-cost carrier.Consultancy firm ICF said airlines have finalised schedules to operate up to 1,450 flights a day, the most since the lockdown, during the middle of the month. Airlines, prior to the lockdown, operated about 2,500 domestic flights a day and the government expects the aviation industry to get back to that number by the end of 2020.Travel industry analysts predict that the trend is set to grow with the festive months approaching.‘Real Test Lies Ahead’“Business for September month is highest till now post lockdown and we are expecting more growth in the coming months as festive season is ahead and all of us are geared to ensure the revival of travel business,” said easemytrip.com CEO Nishant Pitti.Some industry analysts feel that the real test for the airline industry will be the resumption of regular train services.“The real test for domestic airlines’ performance starts during the middle of September especially given the fact that 80 new trains will be launched by Indian Railways by then,” said Piyush Bansal, operations lead for ICF in India.India stopped domestic flights on March 25 as a nationwide lockdown was imposed and restarted on May 25. International flights stopped on March 22. Regular, scheduled international flights are yet to start but carriers are plying ‘bubble’ corridors to some destinations in the Middle East, Europe and the US.

from Economic Times https://bit.ly/33hQgIb
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