Air India's domestic market share shrank in April pushing it to the fourth position among all carriers. The April air traffic data released by the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) showed troubled carrier Kingfisher slipping to the bottom of the table.

With 28.2 per cent, Jet Airways-JetLite ranked No 1, followed by no-frills airlines IndiGo with 23.8 per cent and SpiceJet (17.7 per cent). Air India's share was down to 17.6 per cent, followed by GoAir (7.3 per cent) and Kingfisher (5.4 per cent).

The key gainers were IndiGo, which saw its seat factor rising from 76.5 per cent in March to 82 per cent in April from 76.5 per cent in March — the highest in the industry — and SpiceJet whose seat factor jumped to 80 per cent (second best in the industry) in April from 73 per cent in March.

Air India also registered the highest flight cancellations in the domestic sector at 5.2 per cent despite having no labour trouble in April. Kingfisher Airlines saw 3.3 per cent flight cancellations. The industry average for cancellations was 1.5 per cent. Low-cost carriers IndiGo and GoAir had the lowest cancellation rate of 0.1 per cent.

Air India's on time performance at six metro airports was the lowest at 79.7 per cent, followed closely by SpiceJet's 80.7 per cent and 81.2 per cent of Kingfisher Airlines.

Air India's passenger load factor, or average percentage of passengers carried on each flight, was the lowest among all other Indian carriers at 70.5 per cent, while IndiGo's was the best with 82 per cent.

Passenger traffic grew by 7.15 per cent between January and April with all domestic airlines carrying around 203.6 lakh passengers as against 190.02 lakh during the corresponding period last year.

>niveditag@thehindu.co.in

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