Domestic aviation revival: 3.4 lakh fly on Saturday, highest since March 2020

Domestic airlines are witnessing a sharp increase in passenger traffic for the second time in October, with dussehra and diwali falling in the same month this year, the Times Of India reported on Monday. Following the Sunday after dussehra, domestic airlines had carried a record 3.27 lakh passengers and on this diwali weekend, a new record has been set, with over 3.38 lakh passengers boarding over 2,500 domestic flights on Saturday. This is the highest volume of passengers and flights flown per day since March 23 last year.

Prior to this record rise, domestic passenger traffic had almost touched the 3 lakh per day mark in the first week of March this year.

Thereafter it tumbled as the second wave of the Covid washed away the demand for air travel. According to the publication, higher volumes of passengers are expected for the coming weekend. Sunday sees the highest passengers loads on flights that arrive into metros like Delhi and Mumbai.

The increase in domestic passenger traffic can also be attributed to faster vaccination and rapidly declining fresh Covid-19 cases, according to aviation experts. While 1.6 crore jabs have been administered so far, daily fresh cases have declined to the 12,000 mark. This is giving confidence to passengers to resume travel.

Tuesday, the best day to board a flight

Domestic passenger traffic crossed the three lakh per day mark on six days in the current month, with all of them being weekend days, except for October 18 which was a Monday. When compared to Friday, passengers number on Saturday and Sunday were found to be higher.

For passengers wishing to escape the festive rush, Tuesdays are considered to be the best day to board a flight as passenger traffic slumped on this particular day on all weeks this month. This trend was similar to that of the earlier weeks this year.