Air traffic in India jumps 70% during January-July

New Delhi: Domestic airlines carried 669.54 lakh passengers during the January-July period and registered an annual air traffic growth of over 70 per cent, Directorate General of Civil Aviation data showed on Thursday.

In July alone, air passengers rose by 93 per cent to 97.05 lakh. During the month, the overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines was just 0.98 per cent. As the aviation section recovers from the pandemic-led shock, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has decided to withdraw the fare cap on air tickets imposed during the initial days of COVID-19 in 2020.

The cap on fares will be removed from August 31, 2022.

“After review of the current status of Scheduled Domestic Operations viz-a-viz passenger demand for air travel, it has been decided to remove the fare bands notified from time to time regarding the airfares with effect from 31.08.2022,” the ministry had said.

The cap on airfares was imposed by the ministry on May 21, 2020.

Delhi-Mumbai flight ticket was then priced between Rs 3,500 and Rs 10,000.

The flight duration was divided into seven categories – 0-30 minutes, 30-60 minutes, 60-90 minutes, 90-120 minutes, 120-150 minutes, 150-180 minutes, and 180-210 minutes.

“The decision to remove airfare caps has been taken after careful analysis of daily demand and prices of air turbine fuel,” Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia tweeted.

“Stabilisation has set in and we are certain that the sector is poised for growth in domestic traffic in the near future,” Scindia added.