Omicron dents India's domestic air passenger traffic growth in Jan

New Delhi, March 10

Covid's third wave triggered by the Omicron variant pulled down India's domestic air passenger traffic growth in January 2022 on a year-on-year basis.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), India's domestic air passenger volume on a year-on-year basis -- measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) -- was the lowest amongst major aviation markets such as Australia, Brazil, China, Japan, Russia, and the US.

The traffic declined by (-) 18 per cent over January 2021 level. "India's domestic RPKs fell by 18 per cent year-on-year in January... the biggest decline recorded for any of the domestic markets tracked by IATA," the association said in its Air Passenger Market Analysis for January 2022.

"On a month-on-month basis, seasonally adjusted RPKs dropped by nearly 45 per cent between December and January."

The country's domestic available passenger capacity -- measured in available seat kilometres (ASK) -- was down (-) 13.7 per cent YoY.

In January, certain travel restrictions were re-imposed by state government's in the wake of the third Covid wave.