Global airline industry body IATA said international passenger traffic plunged 89% in February compared to the same month last year as COVID-19 infections climbed once more, and there was no sign of an aviation recovery yet.
"International passenger traffic was down almost 89% and is showing no signs of recovery in the current environment," IATA's new director general Willie Walsh said at a presentation on Wednesday.
Walsh, formerly the chief executive of British Airways-parent group IAG, was holding his first media briefing since taking on the IATA director general job at the beginning of April.
Mumbai airport Q1 traffic drops 46 pc to 50.91 lakh
Passenger traffic at city''s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) plunged 46 per cent to 50.91 lakh passengers in the January-March period of this year over the same period year ago, owing to the pandemic.
CSMIA, which is the country''s second-busiest aerodrome after Delhi''s Indira Gandhi International Airport, had flown a total of 94.26 lakh passengers, both domestic and international, in the first three months of 2020, according to official data.
CSMIA catered to a total of approximately 50,91,730 passengers and over 49,160 flights across domestic and international destinations between January to March 2021, the private airport operator said in a statement.
Of this, 45,70,150 were domestic passengers and 5,21,570 international, CSMIA said.
“During the period, the airport witnessed the movement of over 5,21,570 international passengers across 7,759 flights as well as approximately over 45,70,150 domestic passengers over 41,407 flights,” it said.
The airport said it saw the addition of Al Khaimah in the UAE and Batam in Indonesia, among new international destinations and Jharsuguda, Kishangarh and Agra amongst the domestic destinations in the first quarter of CY2021.