Indian airlines' revenue fell by 85% in April-June: Aviation Minister

New Delhi: The revenue of Indian airlines fell by over 85 per cent to Rs 3,651 crore during the first quarter of FY21 due to the severe disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday stated in a written reply in Rajya Sabha that Indian airlines suffered a 85.7 per cent revenue loss in comparison to the corresponding period a year ago.

He went on to add that employee count at the Indian carriers were down from 74,887 on March 31 to 69,589 on July 31 -- a decrease of 7.07 per cent.

"The revenue of airport operators has reduced from Rs 5,745 crore during April-June 2019 to Rs 894 crore during April-June 2020," he said.

Puri said the employee count at airports has also reduced from 67,760 on March 31 to 64,514 on July 31.

It is worth mentioning that domestic flight services in India were suspended from March 25 to May 24 due to the strict Covid-19 lockdown restrictions across the country. They were resumed from May 25 in a curtailed manner.

The employee count at ground handling agencies also fell by 22.44 per cent to 29,254 during the April-July period, said the Civil Aviation minister.

"The revenue of Indian carriers has reduced from Rs 25,517 crore during April-June 2019 to Rs 3,651 crore during April-June 2020," the minister said.

He stated that Air India’s total revenue has reduced from Rs 7,066 crore during the April-June 2019 period to Rs 1,531 crore during the first quarter of 2020-21.

Hardeep Singh Puri also highlighted that domestic air traffic in the country fell to 1.2 crore during the March-July period as compared to 5.85 crore in the year-ago period.

He further noted that international traffic dropped to 11.55 lakh in March-July period as compared to 93.45 lakh a year ago during the corresponding period.

It may be noted that scheduled international flights have been suspended in India since March 23 due to the lockdown.

Only special international passenger flights have been operating in India under the Vande Bharat Mission since May and under bilateral air bubble arrangements formed between India and other countries since July.