Hit by Covid-19 pandemic, country’s aviation sector yet to witness growth

Indian airlines flew 7.734 million passengers in January, far lower than the 12.7 million they did a year ago as restrictions on flights, flying, and international travel (and travellers), all on account of the Covid-19 pandemic took their toll on the sector.

The Directorate General of Air Travel released domestic passenger data for the month of January on Thursday. In December, according to DGCA, airlines carried 7.32 million domestic passengers. That marked a 15% improvement over November.

In contrast, January has seen only a 5.5% growth over December. In December, DGCA allowed airlines to sell tickets up to 80% of an aircraft’s capacity, up from 70% the previous month. This stayed the same in January.