September 19, 2017 TnH Global

Domestic traffic up by 15.63% in August, indicates DGCA traffic data

India’s domestic air passenger traffic registered a growth of 15.63 per cent in August over the same period last year as the local airlines managed to fill a larger proportion of aircraft seats to produce an average 83.94 per cent seat factor in the month.

All Indian carriers together flew 9.69 million passengers in August this year as against 8.38 million passengers in the same month last year, thereby registering a growth of 15.63 per cent over August 2016, according to the monthly traffic data released by the DGCA today. The 15.63 per cent growth in traffic was up from 12.43 per cent growth registered last month, over July 2016, when India lost the tag of the highest growing aviation market in the world to China.

The passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-August 2017 were 754.11 lakh as against 644.68 lakh during the corresponding period of previous year, a growth of 16.97 percent, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data. Though budget carrier IndiGo remained the market leader by having flown the maximum number of passengers at 36.78 lakh, its market share further declined to 38 per cent in August as against 38.7 per cent in the previous month.

IndiGo was followed by full-service carrier Jet Airways with 15.38 lakh passengers and no-frills SpiceJet which flew 13.59 lakh passengers during the month, as per the DGCA data. The national carrier Air India, which is in the process of disinvestment, transported 12.82 lakh passengers with a market share of 13.2 per cent. SpiceJet reported the highest passenger load factor (PLF) or seat utilisation for the 29th consecutive month at 94.5 percent. The passenger load factor in the month of August 2017 has shown increasing trend compared to previous month due to the beginning of the festive season, the DGCA said.

On the other hand, IndiGo was at the top in terms of its on-time performance (OTP) with 86.6 per cent of its flights arriving and departing as per schedule. It was followed by SpiceJet (78.7 per cent), Vistara (74.5 per cent), GoAir (74.2 per cent), Air India (69.4 per cent), Jet Airways along with its subsidiary JetLite (65.8 per cent), the data said.

News Source: PTI