Air passenger traffic falls for eight week in a row

For the eighth week in a row, fewer Indians took to the skies given the fresh surge in covid cases across the country.

Average number of daily fliers stood at 65,000 for the week ending on 15 May, down from 82,000 for the week ending on 8 May, and less than 126,000 in the week ended 1 May, according to a report by ICICI Securities.

Average passenger load factor (PLF), an airline industry metric that measures how much of an airline’s passenger carrying capacity is used, below 50% during the week ending on 15 May, the report added.

During the week mentioned above, the average number of departures declined sharply to 952 against 1,140 in the previous week. The number of fliers per departure declined to 68 from 72 in the respective weeks.