Indian aviation sector is passing through very tough times due to the low turn out of air passengers and global slow down. The domestic air traffic witnessed sharp decline of 21.3 percent in November. A total of 30.48 lakh people used the air services, as compared to 38.72 lakh in the November last year. It is the largest ever single month decline in air traffic in the past few years. A total of 31.8 lakh air passengers traveled in the festival season of October but the number continues to decline till now.  

Various airlines are experiencing very low load factors despite peak travel season. Low cost carrier IndiGo, Jet, Kingfisher and AI (domestic) registered 73%, 63%, 58.4% and 57.5% load factors respectively. Domestic carriers collectively suffered a loss of nearly $1 billion in 2007-08 and it is expected to rise further for the current financial year.

The recent terror attack in Mumbai also contributed to low turn out of passengers besides the global slow down. Experts believe that the situation can even worsen in January to March quarter due to exams and overall slowdown in the economy. There is a need to further revise the air tariffs to make air travel cheaper and control the slowdown in the aviation sector.