Passengers shun Chinese carriers, Air India to benefit from traffic curbs

Curtailment of flights between India and China will help Air India and other airlines to boost their seat occupancy and market share, say travel agents and aviation experts

Air India’s (AI’s) non-stop flights to Canada and the US will get a fillip as the novel coronavirus (nCoV) outbreak curbs traffic flow via China and Hong Kong.
 
Over 5.4 million passengers flew between India and the US in the 12 months ended September 2019. Around 25 per cent of passengers flew non-stop between the two countries; the rest flew via hubs in Dubai, Doha, or Frankfurt.
 
Around 5.7 per cent of the India-US traffic and 8 per cent of the Delhi-US traffic travelled one stop via China and Hong Kong during the period. Hong Kong and China