Domestic Passenger Traffic Up 9.6% YoY In Oct: Report

Registering a 9.6 per cent growth on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the domestic air passenger traffic was estimated to be at around 138.5 lakh in October, 6.3 per cent higher than 130.3 lakh in September 2024, according to a report by Icra. This is notably higher by around 12.8 per cent than the pre-covid levels (October 2019). The airlines’ capacity deployment in October 2024 was higher than October 2023 by 7.6 per cent.

For the first seven months of the current financial year (7MFY25), the domestic air passenger traffic was approximately 932 lakh, marking a YoY growth of 5.9 per cent and 12.6 per cent higher than the pre-covid level of around 827.5 lakh in 7MFY20.

The Icra report stated that for the first half of the current fiscal (H1FY25), the international passenger traffic for Indian carriers stood at around 162.6 lakh, a YoY growth of 16.0 per cent, and higher than the pre-Covid level of 111.0 lakh by 46.5 per cent. Despite healthy growth in air passenger traffic and improvement in yields, the movement of the latter will remain monitorable amid elevated aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices and depreciation of the Indian Rupee vis-à-vis the USD over pre-covid levels.

ATF prices in 8M FY25 were lower by 6.8 per cent on a YoY basis but significantly elevated over pre-covid levels. As per the report, In 8M FY25 (April-November 2024), the average ATF price was Rs 96,162 per kilolitre (KL).

Supply chain challenges and engine failure issues have impacted the industry's capacity over the last 18 months and are expected to continue affecting it this year. Icra expects the Indian aviation industry to report a net loss of around Rs 20 to 30 billion in FY2025 and FY2026 each, against around Rs 10 billion in FY2024.