Fewer international flyers between Oct-Mar than projections of 10-15 mn: CAPA
There will be fewer international passengers flying between October and March than the earlier projections of 10-15 million.Aviation advisory and research practice, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) India, has forecast that during this period, international passengers would be around 8-10 million only. It has, however, maintained its estimated domestic passenger traffic numbers at 30-40 million.
The aviation advisory has also projected that the visiting friends and relatives (VFR) segment will decline by 20-30% in the second half of the current financial year as compared to the same period of last financial year (2019-20).
As of September 2020, domestic air traffic has returned to around 35% of pre-Covid levels. However, international traffic stands at only around 12% of pre-Covid volumes. According to CAPA, major reasons for this are border restrictions, limited flight options and reduced desire to travel (due to higher risk in overseas travel.)
