India and China aviation appear on track to turn around, says report

DOMESTIC flights in India and China appear to be on a rebound, going by the relatively low storage rates of planes in those two markets.

In an industry update of India's aviation sector on Tuesday, data analytics company Cirium noted that the number of domestic flights had reached 80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels by Feb 15, following an almost-complete shutdown in April 2020 and most of the following month.

Low-cost carrier IndiGo dominated the market, accounting for more than half the nearly 2,000 domestic services operated daily on a seven-day rolling average basis. In contrast, total daily international arrivals into Indian airports by Indian carriers numbered barely 100 - well below half the normal level.

Cirium noted that most of IndiGo's fleet, including 120 Airbus A320neos and 30 A321neos, are in service. Only 36 out of 100 A320neos remain in storage.

In its update of Feb 11, Cirium noted a sharp rebound in domestic flight activity in China as well, sparking hope for a renewed recovery in its aviation sector. Including the very low number of international services, the seven-day rolling average daily flights for Chinese operators had bounced back to nearly 7,500 on Feb 10, but Cirium said it is too early to determine the extent this increased flight activity was driven by an uptick in passenger demand.

The figure for Feb 3, the run-up to the Chinese New Year, was under 6,500.

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Just over eight per cent of the Chinese-operated passenger jet fleet is still mothballed - far lower than the global figure of 32 per cent of passenger jets still in storage.