Domestic air passenger traffic in India saw a notable increase in May, reaching approximately 138.9 lakh passengers, marking a 5.2 per cent rise from April’s 132.0 lakh passengers, according to a recent report by ICRA, a leading credit rating agency.

This figure represents a 5.1 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth compared to May 2023, and is significantly higher by 14 per cent when compared to pre-Covid levels.

According to the report, the airlines in India expanded their capacity deployment by 6 per cent compared to May 2023, and by 2 per cent over April 2024. For the fiscal year 2024 (FY2024), which runs from April to March, domestic air passenger traffic totalled approximately 154 million, showing a YoY growth of 13 per cent.

The report indicated that the international passenger traffic for Indian carriers also demonstrated remarkable growth. For FY2024, it stood at approximately 296.8 lakh, reflecting a 24 per cent YoY increase. This figure is 30 per cent higher than the pre-Covid levels of 227.3 lakh, and it has surpassed the previous peak of 259 lakh recorded in FY2019.

In the first two months of FY2025 (April-May 2024), domestic air passenger traffic reached around 270.9 lakh, indicating a 3.8 per cent YoY growth over the same period in FY2024.

The report further said that despite a healthy recovery 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 INR vis-à-vis the USD over pre-Covid levels, both of which have a major bearing on the airlines’ cost structure.