Domestic air travel takes a steep nosedive

The recent Covid-19 outbreak has seen domestic air travel drop by 60% since the start of the year, says the Department of Airports (DoA).

The figures were drawn from 20 airports supervised by the DoA nationwide, according to Apirat Chaiwongnoi, acting director-general of the department.

Domestic passengers passing through the 20 airports also plunged from an average 30,000 a day before the New Year to 12,000, he said.

The number of aircraft in the sky also fell.

Before the long New Year weekend, 160 flights operated into and out of the 20 airports on average each day.

After the holidays, flights were down 40% to 100 per day on average.

Mr Apirat said people were not confident in the effectiveness of the quarantine measures imposed by the provinces.

The big reduction in demand has forced airlines to scale back their flights. Some airlines also asked the department…