As many as 63.54 (6.35 million) lakh domestic passengers travelled by air in November as compared to 52.71 lakh in October and 39.43 lakh in September. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the number of passengers travelled in November is less than 51 pe rcent as compared to the corresponding period last year.

The DGCA data showed that IndiGo carried 34.23 lakh passengers in November, a 53.9 per cent share of the total domestic market, SpiceJet flew 8.4 lakh passengers, which is 13.2 per cent share of the market. Air India, GoAir, AirAsia India and Vistara carried 6.56 lakh, 5.77 lakh, 4.21 lakh and 3.97 lakh passengers respectively in November, the data showed. The occupancy rate or load factor of six major Indian airlines was between 66.3 and 77.7 per cent in November, it stated.

“The passenger load factor in the month of Nov 2020 has shown some recovery due to increased demand after the opening of Lockdown and onset of festive season” it said. The occupancy rate at SpiceJet was 77.7 per cent in November.

Meanwhile, the occupancy rate for other major airlines IndiGo, Vistara, GoAir, Air India and AirAsia India was 74 per cent, 70.8 per cent, 70.8 per cent, 69.6 per cent and 66.3 per cent respectively, according to the DGCA. India resumed domestic passenger flights on May 25 after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus pandemic. Indian airlines are allowed to operate a maximum of 80 per cent of their pre-COVID-19 domestic flights.

The DGCA data showed that in November, IndiGo had the best on-time performance of 97.5 per cent at four metro airports—Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.AirAsia India and Vistara were at number two and three at these four airports in November with 95.6 per cent and 94.8 per cent on-time performance, respectively, the DGCA said.