How badly did COVID-19 impact air traffic in FY21?

Air passenger traffic is expected to be 64.9 percent lower in the ongoing financial year compared to 2019-20. The crash can be attributed to both domestic and international flight restrictions in wake of COVID-19 pandemic.   

Shivani Sharma, Pragati Srivastava

Domestic air passenger traffic is expected to plunge by 60 per cent in FY21. It had fallen by 99.95 percent  in April 2020 after flights were stopped during COVID-19 lockdown.

International air passenger traffic is likely to plummet by 84.8 per cent in the current financial year. It had fallen 99.08 per cent in April 2020. There was some recovery in subsequent months due to air bubble agreements between India and few other countries, but it still declined 82.8 per cent YoY in November 2020.

The fall in air cargo traffic will be lower in comparison to that of the air passenger traffic. The total cargo traffic is expected to decline by 28 per cent in FY21.  

The domestic cargo traffic is expected to decline 29.2 percent. By November 2020, domestic air cargo traffic had returned to around 90.2 percent of pre-Covid levels.

The international cargo traffic is expected to decline by 27.2 per cent in the ongoing financial year. By November 2020, international air cargo traffic had returned to around 85 per cent of pre-Covid level.