Domestic flight occupancy drops 15% as Coronavirus sparks fear of flying
Fresh bookings and occupancy in domestic flights have dropped by almost 15 per cent in the last few days as customers defer or cancel trips over fears of coronavirus.
With domestic travel, generating bulk of the revenue for carriers slowing down, the slump in crude oil price will provide limited relief for airlines.
International air travel to and from India has already been hit due to travel ban and warning issued by many countries, including those from West Asia. According to analysts at JM Financial Institutional Securities, the international air route mix is 19 and 25 per cent for IndiGo and SpiceJet respectively.
Executives of Indian airlines said that the drop is primarily for flights to major metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, which are the prime revenue generators on the domestic front.
