IMPACT OF COVID-19 AND POST-PANDEMIC RECOVERY OF AIR TRANSPORT MOBILITY IN INDIAN AIRPORTS
Gopal Chand, Deputy General Manager (Corporate Planning & Management Services),
The COVID-19 pandemic produced the sharpest disruption in the history of commercial aviation and severely affected airport activity, passenger mobility, and aviation-linked tourism in India. This paper examines the trajectory of Indian air transport mobility from the collapse of operations during March-April 2020 to the post-pandemic recovery achieved by 2025-26, using airport traffic statistics reported for domestic and international aircraft movements and passenger volumes. The analysis shows that, relative to 2019-20, total traffic fell dramatically in 2020-21, with international passenger traffic declining by 84.8% and domestic passenger traffic by 61.7%, followed by a sustained recovery led initially by the domestic market. By 2022-23, domestic passenger traffic had recovered to 98.5% of the pre-pandemic benchmark, while total passenger traffic reached 96% of the 2019-20 level. In 2023-24, total passenger throughput surpassed the pre-COVID baseline, and in 2025-26 Indian airports handled 420.09 million passengers, with domestic and international traffic reaching 124% and 121%, respectively, of pre-pandemic levels. The paper argues that the Indian aviation sector has moved beyond recovery into a phase of structural expansion, supported by airport infrastructure growth, regulatory reforms, and airline fleet expansion. The findings contribute to ongoing discussion on transport resilience, post-crisis mobility restoration, and the transformation of emerging aviation markets. The paper further examines the structural transformation now underway: the Air India–Vistara merger completed in November 2024, unprecedented aircraft order books exceeding 1,600 pending deliveries across IndiGo, Air India and Akasa, and an aviation infrastructure programme targeting 350–400 operational airports by 2047 (up from 164 in 2025), anchored by the commissioning of Navi Mumbai International Airport (December 2025) and Noida International Airport at Jewar (March 2026). The study concludes that Indian civil aviation has not merely recovered from the pandemic but has entered a structurally higher growth trajectory, supported by regulatory reform including the Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam 2024 and the Protection of Interest in Aircraft Objects Act 2025. KEYWORDS: COVID-19, mobility, airport, India, recovery, aviation infrastructure, civil aviation; airport traffic