India's domestic air passenger traffic up over 19% in January

India's domestic air passenger traffic surged by 19.69 per cent to 1.14 crore in January from 95.79 lakh reported during the corresponding month of last fiscal, official data showed here on Friday.

"Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January 2018 were 114.65 lakh as against 95.79 lakh during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering a growth of 19.69 per cent," the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in its monthly domestic traffic report.

According to the data, low-cost carrier SpiceJet had the highest passenger load factor (PlF) -- a measure of capacity utilisation of the airline -- at 95 per cent during during the moth under review.

"SpiceJet has yet again recorded the highest PlF in the industry and this is the 34th month in a row that we have flown with load factors in excess of 90 per cent...," said SpiceJet's Chief Sales and Revenue Officer Shilpa Bhatia.

It was followed by budget passenger carriers GoAir with PlF at 90 per cent, and IndiGo and Jetlite at 89.7 per cent each.

"The passenger load factor in the month of January 2018 has shown increasing trend compared to previous month primarily due to the ongoing tourist season," the monthly statistical analysis said.

The data showed that IndiGo led the industry with 75.4 per cent punctuality rate (on-time performance) at the four major airports of Bengaluru, New Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

It was followed by SpiceJet (74.4), Go Air (67.4) and Air India's domestic operations (66.9).

"The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for the month of January 2018 has been 1.26 per cent," said the data.

In addition, the data disclosed that a total of 694 passenger-related complaints were received last month.

"The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried for the month of January 2018 has been around 0.61," the monthly analysis said.

The data revealed that IndiGo led the industry with the highest market share of 39.7 per cent, followed by Jet Airways (14.3), Air India (13.3), SpiceJet (12.6 ), and GoAir (9.6).

AirAsia India had a market share of 4.3 per cent, followed by Vistara (3.6), Jetlite (2.3) and Trujet (0.3). 

"The domestic passenger traffic continues to show strong growth momentum, growing by 19.69 per cent on a year on year basis. The lower airfares have been a result of induction of more seat capacity as well as crude oil prices staying stable," said Sharat Dhall, COO (B2C), Yatra.com.

"Major carriers further fuelled the growth by announcing sales during the month, despite it being a peak travel month. We do expect this growth trend to continue in the coming months," he added.