International airlines vie for the Indian globetrotter
NEW DELHI : Indians are flying overseas like never before. And airlines are taking swift measures to cater to the rising demand. This January has seen 6.52 million people take off for foreign destinations from India, 17% more than January 2023 and, significantly, 0.5% higher than the pre-covid level of January 2020 as well.
So far this fiscal (April-January), 57.8 million international passengers were recorded, 24% up on-year and just 1.7% lower than the same period of pre-covid. Going ahead, foreign airlines like Emirates, Singapore International Airlines, Qantas, Cathay Pacific and Etihad, among others, are anticipating the surge in demand from India to balloon further, and are planning their network accordingly. Not to be left behind, domestic carriers, too, are anticipating similar surge in demand for foreign travel.
Ratings agency ICRA expects international passenger traffic for Indian carriers to surpass the peak levels of FY24. To be sure, foreign carriers accounted for 56% share in international air traffic to and from India in 2022-23, and Indian carriers, 44%, as per data from Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Underlining the demand increase is data from online travel portal ixigo, which has seen a 150% increase in searches for international travel in April and May this year compared to last year.
Further, despite the high demand, fare increase on flights in and out of India has remained flat on key routes. ixigo data also shows increased searches for countries that have recently made travel for Indians visa free, including Kenya, Thailand, and Malaysia. Data from ixigo showed a 321% increase on-year in travel searches for Thailand, and more than 100% increase in travel searches for Kenya and Malaysia.
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