Aviation sector witnessing strong V-shaped recovery, passenger growth will continue: Jyotiraditya Scindia

New Delhi:

The country’s civil aviation sector is witnessing a very strong V-shaped recovery with encouraging domestic passenger numbers, and growth will continue for years to come, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said today.

After being significantly affected by the coronavirus pandemic, the industry is on track for recovery and daily domestic air traffic has been above 4 lakh in recent weeks.

Against the backdrop of airport congestion now easing, the Civil Aviation Minister also said efforts have been made to ensure that airport operators take steps to accommodate airport congestion.

In an interview with PTI, Jyotiraditya Scindia said domestic passenger numbers are very encouraging and the number as of November this year is already around 111 million.

“I believe the civil aviation industry has recovered and what we say in economic parlance V-shaped recovery. A very strong V-shaped recovery. I do believe that (with the) value proposition that airlines and airports are offering our customers, we are we see increased participation and a greater desire to travel by air, which is why we are looking at these very, very high numbers. I am very confident that this growth in India will continue in the coming years,” he said.

On Tuesday, the number of departing domestic air passengers stood at 4,15,426 while the number of departing domestic flights stood at 2,883, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

“While there is much cheer at exceeding the pre-Covid 2019 figure of about 4.15 lakh passengers per day consecutively in the past two weeks and at 4.35 lakh on December 24, I would like to put more emphasis on the fact that if you look at the numbers throughout the year, in 2019, we were close to about 144 million (domestic) passengers, pro rata to November, we were looking at about 95 million… today, at the end of November, we’re already at 111 million, so we’re up 15 percent from that number on a sequential basis through November,” he said.

On the current situation of the coronavirus worldwide and its shadow on the civil aviation sector, Jyotiraditya Scindia said that Covid is always a concern.

“Just the fact that today we have very high Covid rates all over the world, from China to South Korea to Japan to European countries, is certainly a concern. We have to be careful, that’s why we introduced what the Ministry of Health has done. has asked and commissioned us for 2 percent screening of all passengers entering India. Fortunately, we are not seeing those high positivity numbers at least at the moment… I think we still have to wait and see the situation,” he said.

Speaking of congestion at airports, including in Delhi, the Civil Aviation Minister said that such a high number of passengers was not expected during the holiday season.

“We put our boots on the ground and we understood the situation… it is the airports responsibility and job to provide that seamless travel option between supply and demand,” he said, adding that two things are important in this regard important are important.

One is to be able to manage rush hour traffic based on airport throughput and increase throughput within the airport, he noted.

In response to complaints from various quarters about congestion resulting in long queues and waiting times at airports, especially in Delhi, the Ministry has taken various measures and the situation has improved.

“Today I am pleased to note that we have looked at both reducing arrivals and departures during peak hours and increasing the throughput of Delhi airport. (This is by) increasing the number of gates for access and by placing systems such as TV monitors and ushers to help people and increase the number of security lines and today we have almost 20 lines,” the minister said.

These steps, Jyotiraditya Scindia said, have really reduced the number of bottlenecks present. “It is imperative to put those processes (also) in Mumbai and Bengaluru airport.” When asked if airport operators were not well prepared to deal with high passenger numbers leading to congestion, Jyotiraditya Scindia said, “I don’t think there was a forecasting ability and anticipation of high numbers that you and I are talking about”.

“Now is not the time to necessarily look at assigning blame, but really address the issue and make the travel process and travel experience much more seamless for our travelers. That’s what I’m focusing on,” said the minister.

Speaking of international air traffic, Jyotiraditya Scindia said it is about 20-25 percent lower than 2019 figures.

“I also see a sequential increase in that as we go forward. Both for domestic and international, we’ve looked at the systems and we’ve made sure that airport operators have steps in place that allow for airport congestion,” Jyotiraditya said Scindia.

On Tuesday, the number of arriving international passengers stood at 82,293.

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