: Festive season to propel air travel #FinanceIndia #StockMarketNEWS #Business IANS New Delhi Airline major IndiGo foresees a faster pace of traffic pick-up on the back of upcoming festive season

@StockMarketNEWS Sat 26 Sep, 2020

Posted in: #Business #FinanceIndia #StockMarketNEWS

Festive season to propel air travel #FinanceIndia #StockMarketNEWS #Business
IANS

New Delhi

Airline major IndiGo foresees a faster pace of traffic pick-up on the back of upcoming festive season as well as capacity augmentation, the airline’s CEO said.

Ronojoy Dutta, Wholetime Director and CEO of India’s largest airline in terms of market share acknowledged the a green shoots’ of traffic recovery.

“We have analysed the traffic every few days and the trends are up and it is encouraging that the demand is sustaining now, with the travel trend going up in terms of unit revenue and future bookings,??? he said.

“The demand has certainly picked up after July and we are bullish that it will further augment during the festive season. ??? Sector wise, the airline industry is amongst the hardest hit due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.

The company was not spared either, it has flow through financial turbulence mandating some tough decisions such as pay cuts and downsizing.

However, Dutta asserted that initial impact has now tempered and outlook offers faster rate of recovery.

“We do expect air travel demand to pick up during the festive season, with VFR travel being the major contributor to the growth. Also, the relax ation in state government restrictions and the allowance of 60 per cent capacity by central government will further help in increasing capacity as well as demand,??? he elaborated.

“We are hoping to increase our domestic capacity to 60 per cent by Diwali, 80 per cent by Christmas and 100 per cent by Holi as per our approved summer schedule for 2020. ??? Recently, the Centre allowed airlines to deploy limited domestic operational capacity up to 60 per cent from an earlier 45 per cent, post the re-start o f scheduled domestic flights from May 25, 2020.

At present, the airline ferries one million passengers every fortnight across more than 50 destinations via 700 daily departures. Besides, Dutta pointed out that VRF (visiting friends and relatives) segment will be the mainstay contributor of passengers load factor, while a gradual up-tick in leisure travel might be expected by early next year.

“India is a country with close-knit families and friend circles, and hence we believe people will start flying and moving from one place to another to meet their loved ones,??? he explained.

“Therefore, we believe that leisure travel will see an increase towards the end of this year or early 2021, while corporate travel will take a b ack seat till the pandemic situation recovers majorly. ??? Nonetheless, he said that intermittent regional lockdowns and diverse quarantine guidelines are impacting air traffic, as state-wise guidelines are a key consideration for passengers before booking travel.