New Delhi, May 1 (IANS): India's domestic air passenger traffic crashed by over 33 per cent in March on a year-on-year basis, as the Covid-19-caused disruption heavily impacted the sector.

According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), passengers ferried by domestic airlines during March declined to 77.62 lakh as against 1.15 crore for the corresponding period of the previous year.

"Passengers carried by domestic airlines during Jan-Mar 2020 were 329.12 lakh as against 354.52 lakh during the corresponding period of previous year, thereby registering annual growth of (-) 7.16 per cent and monthly growth of ( -) 33.06 per cent," the DGCA report said.

As per the DGCA data, air passenger traffic growth rate in February 2020 rose to nearly 9 per cent on a year-on-year basis to 1.23 crore.

"The passenger load factor in the month of March 2020 has shown a sharp decline due to suspension of air operations because of Covid-19 outbreak," the report said.