Air passenger traffic reaches all-time high in May

Key Highlights:

• Air passenger traffic in May increased on the back of tourist season.
• The growth has been driven by an increase in both domestic and international passenger traffic. 
• The international passenger traffic growth inched up to 10% in May 2017.

Air passenger traffic in India reached an all-time high of 2.5 crore in May, ICRA said. 
 
“Buoyed by the commencement of the tourist season in the country, the monthly air passenger traffic reached an all-time high of 25.5 million (2.55 crore) in May 2017, registering a robust year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth of 16% over May 2016,” a report by ICRA said on Wednesday.
 
“Y-o-Y growth rate for aircraft traffic was 11% in May 2017, while for cargo traffic it was 17%,” the report added.
 
In the month of May, passengers carried by domestic airlines amounted to 1.01 crore as per Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) report.  The ICRA report has taken into account international passenger traffic as well.
 
“The trend in air passenger growth has remained strong in May 2017 and it witnessed an increase from 14% Y-o-Y growth reported in April 2017. The growth has been driven by an increase in both domestic and international passenger traffic. Domestic passenger traffic, which constitutes around 79% of the total passenger traffic in the country, reported a 17% Y-o-Y growth in May 2017 as against 15% growth in April 2017. The international passenger traffic growth inched up to 10% in May 2017 as against 9% in April 2017,” Harsh Jagnani, Vice President and Sector Head for Corporate Ratings, ICRA Limited, said.
     
The domestic passenger traffic dipped for the first time in five months during the month of July, with the close of tourist season in India.
 
However the growth remained broad-based with 19 out of the top 20 airports exhibiting Y-o-Y increase in passenger traffic in May 2017, the report said.
 
“The growth remained robust across both metro (Y-o-Y growth of 14%) and non-metro (Y-o-Y growth of 19%) cities. In line with passenger traffic, the aircraft traffic also reported a healthy Y-o-Y growth of 11% in May 2017,” ICRA report added.   
 
“Cargo volumes have continued to maintain a positive growth trend over the last 20 months. Both domestic and international cargo volumes reported a steady growth in May 2017. Moreover, the growth remained well-spread with 18 out of the top 20 airports reporting Y-o-Y increase in May 2017,” Jagnani said.

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