Domestic air travel hits record high in India

Domestic air traffic in India hit a record high as 456,082 passengers travelled on a single day on Sunday (April 30). India's Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia took to Twitter to announce this.

"Skyrocketing numbers of domestic air travellers in post-Covid times are indicative of India's progress," read part of his tweet in Hindi.

The tweet also noted that 3,054 domestic flights took off on April 27, setting another record.

As per BBC, 37.5 million passengers undertook domestic travel in India in the first three months of 2023 alone. According to data from India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation, this marked a growth of 51.7 per cent compared to a year ago. 

"There was no growth for two years during Covid. What we are witnessing now is a snowballing of that pent-up demand," said Mark Martin, an aviation analyst as quoted by the BBC. Martin added that there was also a significant increase in first-time flyers.

In spite of this, it does not appear that everything is fine in the Indian aviation sector. On Tuesday, (May 2) budget carrier Go First filed for bankruptcy before the country's National Company Law Tribunal. The airline said that it had temporarily suspended flight operations due to a "severe fund crunch".

Press Trust of India reported that the airline's Chief Executive Kaushik Khona said once NCLT admits the application, flight operations will resume. Go First employs more than 5,000 people.

“It is an unfortunate decision (filing for voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings) but it had to be done to protect the interests of the company,” he told PTI.

The budget carrier said that it was facing issues constantly due to problems with engines issued by Pratt & Whitney (P&W).

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