May 9, 2016 TnH Global

India remains fastest growing domestic air market

The Indian domestic air travel market remains the fastest growing in the world, according to new data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Demand for domestic flights in India jumped 27.4% year-on-year in March 2016, in revenue passenger kilometre (RPK) terms. By contrast, the second fastest-growing major market, the US, expanded 4.1% in March and domestic air travel in China increased just 3.3%.

India’s growth is being propelled by the comparatively strong economic outlook and sizeable increases in seat capacity. The number of available seats on India’s domestic airlines increased 21.7% in March 2016, and average load factor jumped 3.7 percentage points to 83.1% – the highest of any major global market except the US (85.4%).

The average flight frequencies within India are scheduled to increase by 11.5% in 2016. India now accounts for 1.2% of global air traffic – similar to Japan and slightly behind Russia and Brazil.

The global domestic air passenger market expanded 3.7% in March 2016, a dramatic slowdown from the leap year-aided 7.8% growth recorded in February.

News Source: traveldailymedia .com