India’s domestic passenger traffic has reached more than half of pre-coronavirus pandemic level operations with the number of daily air travellers crossing over two lakh in November, a top official of the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA) said on Saturday.
MOCA Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said when flights resumed after a hiatus of two months due to the COVID-19 outbreak, there were only 30,000 air passengers on the first day but the number reached over two lakh on November 2.
He also said almost 100% bookings and check-ins are now happening through the web and hailed the country’s aviation fraternity for adapting very well to the new normal.
“When we opened domestic aviation about five-six months back, in the month of May, on the first day, in a big country like ours, only 30,000 people travelled. And look at the figures last week, we have crossed two lakh passengers per day. In normal times, it is about three-and-a-half lakh to four lakh passengers a day,” Mr. Kharola said.
“So we have crossed more than half of the normal operations and at a very fast rate we are approaching the normal,” he added.
The top MOCA official was speaking at the 36th foundation day of government-run Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA), a premier aircraft pilot training institute at Fursatganj in Amethi.
