Domestic airlines carried 67.45 lakh passengers in July this year, an increase of 29.31 per cent over the 52.16 lakh passengers during the same period in the previous year.

 The latest data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) shows that IndiGo remained the market leader having flown 24.17 lakh passengers. Jet Airways took the second position (13.35 lakh passengers) followed by Air India at 10.94 lakh passengers. SpiceJet carried 8.31 lakh, JetLite 2.02 lakh, GoAir 5.66 lakh and AirAsia 1.26 lakh passengers in July.

 Data show that in July, over 43,800 passengers were affected by delays with airlines paying over ₹35.36 lakh towards compensation and facilities for these passengers. Close to 27,000 of the passengers flown by Air India were affected by delays in flights, which were by over two hours. The airline paid a compensation of ₹29.2 lakh to flyers for delays. In the case of IndiGo, over 7,500 passengers were affected by flight delays of over two hours with the airline providing refreshments to such passengers. The DGCA data does not show how much compensation, if any, was paid to these passengers.

 IndiGo officials pointed out that the airline did not pay compensation as it accommodates passengers on to other flights or gives them a refund.

Domestic airlines also paid ₹39 lakh to over 7,200 passengers who were affected by cancellation of flights.

 The highest cancellations among the 10 domestic airlines were by Air Costa, which cancelled over 4.67 per cent of its flights, followed by Air Pegasus (2.50 per cent) and Air India (domestic) 1.12 per cent. IndiGo on the other hand cancelled 0.11 per cent of its flights.

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