Domestic air passenger traffic in April grows over 15%

New Delhi, May 18 (IANS) India's domestic air passenger traffic rose by 15.15 per cent during last month with budget carrier IndiGo leading the pack by ferrying 37.79 lakh passengers followed by Jet Airways which flew 13.90 lakh passengers.

National carrier Air India ferried 11.80 lakh passengers followed by SpiceJet at 11.77 lakh and GoAir at 7.40 lakh, official data showed on Thursday.

According to the data furnished by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), total domestic air passenger traffic rose to 91.34 lakh in April from 79.32 lakh ferried during the corresponding period of 2016.

On a sequential basis, domestic air passenger traffic had increased by 14.91 per cent during March to 90.45 lakh.

"Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-April 2017 were 364.13 lakh as against 309.35 lakh during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering a growth of 17.71 per cent," the DGCA said in its monthly statistical analysis.

Further, the data pointed out that low-cost carrier (LCC) SpiceJet had the highest passenger load factor (PLF) in April at 93.4 per cent. PLF is a measure of capacity utilisation of the airline.

SpiceJet was followed by budget passenger carriers AirAsia India at 90.1 per cent, IndiGo at 86.9 per cent and GoAir at 84.7 per cent.

"The passenger load factor in the month of April 2017 has shown increasing trend
compared to previous month primarily due to beginning of tourist season," the monthly statistical analysis said.

Besides, the data showed that Vistara led the industry with 87.4 per cent punctuality rate at four major airports of Bangalore, New Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. It was followed by SpiceJet (85.4), IndiGo (85.2) and Air India (83.9).

The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for April 2017 stood at 0.43 per cent.

In addition, the data disclosed that a total of 643 passenger related complaints was received last month.

"The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried for the month of April 2017 has been around 0.70," the aviation regulator said.

The data revealed that IndiGo led the industry with the highest market share of 41.4 per cent followed by Jet Airways (15.2), SpiceJet (12.9), Air India (12.9), and GoAir (8.1).

AirAsia India (3.3), whereas full service passenger carrier Vistara's market share stood at 3.2 per cent, JetLite (2.4) and Trujet (0.5).

"A year on year growth of 17.71 per cent on a much higher base reflects the buoyancy in the aviation sector and is driven by a mix of increased business as well as leisure travel," said Sharat Dhall, Chief Operating Officer (B2C), Yatra.com.

"The airlines have responded to this by increasing number of flights to existing sectors, expanding to new routes and offering lower fares to tap into advance bookings for the summer vacations."