The ferocious surge in new coronavirus cases that has turned India into the global pandemic hotspot has also reversed one of the airline industry’s biggest travel comebacks.
Carriers in India had reached 87% of their pre-pandemic seat capacity through early April, based on a Bloomberg analysis of data from flight tracker OAG. That progress has now unraveled as the surge in infections led to a pullback in domestic flights, which make up the vast majority of the market.
As of the start of this week, capacity had fallen to 71% of 2019 levels, a 16 percentage-point drop over three weeks, the data show. Further eroding demand is a move by nations including Singapore, Australia, the UK and the United Arab Emirates to impose restrictions on visitors from India.
