COVID-19 India: Domestic aviation passenger number falls by 29% in April

India is currently ravaged by one of the deadliest COVID waves ever since the pandemic started last year, and is one of the worst-hit countries in the world. As an effect, the tourism industry too has been struggling, especially the aviation section. It has been hit again by the new wave, as April saw a steep decline of 29% compared to March in the number of domestic air passengers. The number of domestic passengers in March was 78.2 lakh, which came plummeting to 57 lakhs in April.

The steep decline has been attributed to the second wave of COVID-19 that hit India towards the end of March. As per ICRA, the decline has been led by passengers' unwillingness to take flights to avoid exposure to the highly infectious virus. It is reported that there is a sequential decline of 15% between March and April.
Reportedly, the number of departures also came down to 60,300 in April from 71,300 in March, 2021. The number of flights has also been seeing a decline since February this year, with only 2000 daily departures in April as compared to 2300 in February and March, 2021. It has also been noted that the average number of passengers in a flight in April was 93; the same was pegged at 109 passengers in a flight in March.