According to a recent report by International Air Transport Association (IATA), India’s aviation traffic fell 0.5 per cent during the month of April. IATA has stated that this is for the first time in six years that monthly domestic traffic has declined compared to the year-ago period.
The Jet Airways shutdown is cited as a primary reason for this negative growth.
“The main explanation for this dramatic slowing is the exit of Jet Airways from the market. This sizeable supply side interruption has not yet been offset by other carriers, resulting in ASK growth also slowing sharply, to just 0.5 per cent yoy currently (compared to an average pace of around 15 per cent in the past two years). More broadly, rising airfares in recent months are also likely to have weighed upon passenger demand,” says IATA.
Globally, RPKs rose by 4.3 per cent compared to April 2018, reported IATA.
Alexandre de Juniac, director general and chief executive officer, IATA said, “We experienced solid but not exceptional rising demand for air connectivity in April. This partly is owing to the timing of Easter, but also reflects the slowing global economy.
“Driven by tariffs and trade disputes, global trade is falling, and as a result, we are not seeing traffic growing at the same levels as a year ago. However, airlines are doing a very good job of managing aircraft utilization, leading to record load factors.”
