Domestic airlines carried 86.72 lakh passengers during October this year, registering a growth of 23.18 per cent over the 70.39 lakh passengers flown during the same period in the previous year.
The latest data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) shows that IndiGo retained the number one spot, having carried 42.6 lakh passengers, followed by Jet Airways (14.7 lakh) and Air India (13 lakh).
Delhi-based low cost airline SpiceJet flew 12.9 lakh passengers, followed by GoAir (7.9 lakh) and AirAsia India and Vistara 2.7 lakh each).
SpiceJet reported the highest passenger load factor of 91.9 per cent among the domestic carriers, followed by IndiGo (84.9 per cent), GoAir (84.4 per cent) and AirAsia India (78.3 per cent). Passenger load factor shows what percentage of the total seats on offer are filled.
During October, the domestic airlines paid over ₹1.86 crore as compensation to over 69,000 passengers affected by cancellations and flight delays, among others.
Over 58,000 passengers affected by delays were collectively paid ₹57 lakh towards compensation and facilities.
The law stipulates that airlines should pay compensation starting from ₹2,000 going up to ₹4,000 for delayed or cancelled flights.
While ₹2,000 is to be paid for delays in flights having a block time of one hour, ₹4,000 is for flights with a block time of two hours or more.
Block time is determined from the time between the first movement of an aircraft — from its parking position at the departure airport in order to manoeuvre to the runway for take-off — until the wheels are standing still again at the destination airport and all engines are shut down.
The compensation is only paid if the cost of the ticket is higher than the compensation amount.