As companies roll back salary cuts in the rebounding Indian economy, passengers — who had given up flying — are once again taking to the
sky. Last month, 36.3 lakh people flew within the country — up 26% from 29.22 lakh last August. This is the first time in almost a year that a double digit growth has been recorded as the past few months have only seen a free fall of domestic flyers.
A ‘‘cautiously optimistic'' aviation minister Praful Patel said: "If this trend continues in September, it will mean a big transformation from the gloomy days of the past few months. October being festive season will see good numbers and then the period up to March is peak travel season."
The sharp fall in passenger numbers, and hence flights by airlines, had led to imposition of user charges at the Delhi and Mumbai airports because the fall in revenue threatened to stall the development plans of private players. State-run Airports Authority of India is also seeking clearance to levy fees at its new airports.
All domestic airlines reported load factors of over 68.7% in August, thanks to this renewed surge in travel. Only Air India (domestic) had load factor of below 60% (59.8%) as it is yet to begin low cost domestic operations. The other full service airlines, Jet and Kingfisher, have shifted most of their domestic operations to LCC versions. AI was supposed to begin its domestic budget service in mid-September but there's no sign of that so far.
"Jet and Kingfisher are getting over 65% loads as they have simplified the process of switching planes between budget and all frills services. It is surprising that despite knowing that only LCC model is successful, AI (domestic) is taking so long to switch over. If it doesn't do that fast, AI will lose the festive season rush," said a ministry official. On its part, an AI spokesperson said the LCC service will start "within this year".
Patel's cautious optimism comes from the fact that growth in numbers hinges on several other factors like economy, swine flu and overall security situation.
Overall, though, 248.23 lakh passengers have flown from this January to August, down from corresponding period last year's figure of 289.52 lakh. "Last year also things were looking up when the Mumbai attack on 26/11 changed everything. So we are keeping our fingers crossed," said the official.
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