The Economic Survey 2022 has projected that while air passenger traffic is gradually reaching the pre-pandemic levels, Indian Railways passenger traffic is still much below the pre-pandemic levels, as per monthly data.
Catch all live updates on Economic Survey 2022
Travel restrictions in the early half of 2020-21 had halted the movement of Indian airlines as well as railways leading to a sharp fall in air and rail passenger traffic.
"Domestic passenger traffic (both air and rail) had then started to recover gradually from August 2020 on a monthly basis but fell again in April-May 2021 due to the disruptions caused by the second wave of COVID-19," said the Economic Survey.
Also Read: Economic Survey 2022: Resilience of India's exports to drive growth revival in 2022-23
It has picked up since then. During April- November 2021, airlines carried over 9.56 crore domestic passengers, while Indian Railways carried over 185.1 crore domestic passengers. The railway passenger traffic is still below the pre-pandemic level, noted the Economic Survey.
The emergence of the Omicron variant of coronavirus and the consequential travel restrictions pose a threat to domestic passenger traffic in the near term. The trajectory of the tourism sector, especially international tourism, also remains uncertain due to travel restrictions.
Also Read: Economic Survey 2022: Omicron poses threat to tourism, passenger traffic in near term
On January 31, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey 2022, detailing the state of the economy ahead of Budget 2022 for the financial year 2023, to be presented on February 1
The Economic Survey illustrates the state of different sectors of the economy and also underlines reforms that should be undertaken to accelerate growth.
