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Domestic air passenger traffic increased by 2.96 per cent in May due to the ongoing tourist season, compared to a slump in April.
Domestic airlines flew 1.22 crore passengers in May, against 1.18 crore passengers flown during the same period last year. In April, domestic air passenger traffic had dropped 4.5 per cent over the same period last year.
The latest data released by the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation shows that IndiGo flew 59.80 lakh of the 1.22 crore passengers in May followed by SpiceJet (18.03 lakh), Air India (16.53 lakh), GoAir (13.55 lakh), AirAsia India (7.68 lakh) and Vistara (5.79 lakh).
SpiceJet, however, reported the highest passenger load factor among all domestic airlines at 93.9 per cent followed closely by GoAir (93.3 per cent) and IndiGo (90.9 per cent). Passenger load factor shows how many of the total seats on offer by each airline are getting filled.
GoAir reported the best on-time performance (OTP) at 91.8 per cent followed by AirAsia (89.1 per cent) and IndiGo (87.4 per cent) at the four metro airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
Compensation paid
The industry paid over ₹2.98 crore to over 1.4 lakh passengers affected by cancellations, delays and those who were denied boarding in May.
This includes paying over ₹1.32 crore for providing facilities to over 3300 passengers who were denied boarding by the airlines. In addition, the industry also paid ₹1.18 crore towards providing facilities and compensation to over 1.21 lakh passengers who were affected by delays.
Encouraging signs
Commenting on the passenger traffic growth, Sharat Dhall, Chief Operating Officer (B2C), Yatra.com, said it is encouraging to see a month-on-month growth considering the slow growth in the last two months due to turbulence in the aviation industry.
“Induction of new aircraft and discounts offered by the airlines marginally lifted the passenger traffic. We expect higher growth in the coming months as more seat capacity comes in and airlines are also likely to announce further sales as we move into the off-peak period,” he added.
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