Aviation Minister Scindia: Domestic air passenger traffic reaching pre-covid levels

Daily domestic air passenger traffic will exceed the pre-covid figure of 4.1 lakh passengers per day within the next one year. The passenger traffic, which fell below 2 lakh per day during the peak of the third wave of the pandemic, has currently recovered to 3.83 lakh passengers, said Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

In line with the growing passenger numbers, the Indian airline operators are expected to add 110 to 120 new aircraft every year in the days to come, he said.

Speaking at the inaugural session of industry event Wings India 2022, Scindia said operators should focus on including more wide-bodied aircraft to their fleet in order to connect several global points.

He pointed out that post the second wave of Covid, the aviation sector recovered to reach close to 3.9 lakh passengers per day against the pre-covid number of close to 4.1 lakh passengers. “We were almost back to pre-Covid numbers but then Omicron came and again those numbers dipped to 1.6 lakh passengers per day. Post third wave numbers have again come back close to 3.83 lakh passengers,” he said.

“The aviation sector has shown resilience, and



by next year, we will surpass the pre-covid number of domestic passengers. The international flights are going to fully resume in a couple of days, and the number of international travellers from India will also jump rapidly,” he said adding international passengers were close to 60 million in 2018-19 but fell to almost 10 million.

Civil aviation has an economic multiple of 3.1 and employment multiple of 6.1. It means that the investment of a rupee in the civil aviation space adds Rs 3.1 to the economy in the long run, and for every one direct employment, 6.1 indirect jobs are created, he said, adding that civil aviation is one of the largest employment and output generating sectors in the world.

There are 710 aircraft in India and more than 100 aircraft will join every year. Regional connectivity is the focus of the government, with provision of last mile connectivity.

The civil aviation ecosystem contains other components like cargo, MROs, ground handlers, drones. New policies have been announced for MROs and drones. More training centres are being added. He informed that 15 per cent of the Indian pilots are women, which is three times the global average.