Air India is seeing a smooth build up in passenger numbers with more routes opening

Air India is seeing a smooth build up in passenger numbers with more routes opening

Dubai: Air India has definitely seen gains in passenger numbers since the - but that may have more to do with the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions by India and the immediate increase in travel demand this has set off. The more deep-rooted changes – operational and management-wise - at Air India will take longer. As of March 5, Air India’s domestic load factor - a measure of how well an airline is filling available seats – stood at over 80 per cent, compared to around 70 per cent before the takeover on January 27, according to data from CAPA India. “The spread of the Omicron variant dampened the traffic recovery in India and domestic air traffic witnessed a significant slump in January,” said Vivek Keerthy, analyst with CAPA India. Keerthy said that due to the current ‘bubble’ arrangements between India and various countries it is difficult to gauge Air India’s international traffic growth. If India goes ahead with the resumption of scheduled commercial international flights starting March 27, Air India will be able to quickly make up for lost ground in long-haul sectors. “This will allow Air India to ramp up international services to pre-Covid levels and also strategically look