Report: Air Traffic in India to jump by 15% in 2023-24, despite go first’s departure

India's air traffic is expected to rise about 15 per cent to 155 million passengers in 2023-24, despite the grounding of Go First, according to aviation advisory and research firm CAPA India. This projection is in line with the firm's March 2023 estimate. Despite the sudden exit of Go First in May this year, the fact that there are 150+ aircraft still on the ground, and the worsening supply chain issues (in contrast to the improvement that was expected), domestic traffic in India has shown resilience, the advisory firm said in its latest aviation outlook report.

This could cross 200 aircraft by the end of March 2024.

Further, India's international air traffic has also maintained growth in line with CAPA's guidance and is expected to end the year at around 70 million passengers.

Overall industry profitability is expected to be largely in line with CAPA's initial guidance of a loss of USD 1.648 billion, of which full-service carriers are expected to account for USD 1.4-1.5 billion and low-cost carriers for USD 200-300 million.

The forecast for low-cost carriers' losses has been revised downwards from earlier as a result of IndiGo's exceptional profitability in April-June (Q1).

Further, the advisory firm, in its latest outlook, said India's operational fleet continues to be severely constrained.

By the end of this year, out of a projected 789 aircraft on the register, only 588 are expected to be operational, it said.