Indian carriers see significant uptick in July domestic traffic

Indian carriers saw domestic traffic bounce back in July, after bottoming out in the middle of the year amid a lethal surge in coronavirus infections. Data from the country’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation shows a 61% month-on-month rise in domestic passenger numbers in July, to just over 5m passengers. The figure also represents a two-fold increase in passenger numbers year on year. State-owned Air India carried 670,000 domestic passengers in July, a 30% month-on-month rise. Among the privately-owned Indian carriers, low-cost giant IndiGo flew the largest proportion of domestic travellers, at 2.9 million. This was followed by SpiceJet with over 450,000 passengers, and full-service carrier Vistara, with around 400,000 passengers. Since July, India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation allowed airlines to raise domestic flight capacity to 65% of pre-Covid levels, up from 50% the previous month. <br/>