Demonetisation pulls down air cargo traffic by 12% in Nov: ICRA

Jan 09, 2017: The demonetisation drive has not only affected air cargo segment leading to a 12 per cent points slump on a month-on-month basis but has also slowed down the passenger traffic growth in November from 22 per cent to 19 per cent in the rest of the year.

Air passenger traffic stood at 22.6 million, exhibiting a growth of over 19 per cent in November on a month-on-month basis, cargo traffic witnessed a decline of 12 per cent in the month, while air traffic as a whole declined 2 per cent. Even passenger traffic growth on a month-on-month basis tempered to 19 per cent from over 22 per cent in the previous month, stated ICRA report.

In contrast to the robust y-o-y growth in passenger and aircraft traffic, the year-on-year growth in air cargo traffic halved to 7 per cent in November as against 14 per cent in October, the report added.

During the first eight months of the current financial year, passenger traffic has grown 19 per cent, aircraft traffic has grown by 15 per cent and cargo traffic has grown by 9 per cent, according to media reports.

Both domestic and international cargo traffic reported a decline on month-on-month basis in falling by 20 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively. Moreover, 18 out of the top 20 airports reported month-on-month decline in cargo traffic in the month under review.

Further, air cargo traffic reported month-on-month decline of 12 per cent in November as against a 9 per cent month-on-month growth in October.