Airlines post record numbers of passengers in December

For the first time in the history of Indian aviation, domestic airlines carried more than 50 lakh passengers in a month.

The latest data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) show that airlines carried 52.13 lakh in December, up from 44.87 lakh passengers in the same period of the previous year, reporting a growth of almost 16 per cent.

The December passenger carriage is the highest that the industry flew in a single month during the last 24 months. During January-December, domestic airlines carried 520.21 lakhs as compared to 438.40 lakhs in 2009.

Inclement weather

During the period under review, the industry paid close to Rs 1.26 crore as compensation to passengers of which almost Rs 1.10 crore was on account of providing facilities and compensation to those affected by delays and cancellation of flights.

In December alone more than 1.5 lakh passengers were affected by flight delays while 31,000 passengers had to put up with flight cancellations. In December, inclement weather conditions including dense fog affected operations of airlines.

The compensation amount paid could be more as the information provided by the State-owned Air India was incomplete, the official statement added.

Analysts predict that the industry is expected to see robust growth in the next three to five years. “From the demand side, the Indian market is well positioned for growth for the next three to five years. The air traffic demand is likely to remain strong on the back of growth in the Indian economy, high disposable incomes and rising middle-class aspirations.

“A majority of the air traffic still comes from the top six to eight metro destinations and has not extended to the tier-2 and tier-3 cities. However, with privatisation of 35 non-metro airports that scenario should change,” Mr Kapil Arora, Partner, Ernst & Young, said.

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