Domestic air passenger traffic flies 21% in April

Domestic air travel demand continued on a growth trajectory this April with the passenger traffic surging by nearly 21 per cent, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said on Friday.

The domestic carriers flew 79.32 lakh passengers last month as against 65.59 lakh passengers in April 2015, it said. According to the monthly traffic data, released by the aviation regulator today, budget carrier IndiGo maintained its market leadership with 30.67 lakh passengers flying across its domestic network.

IndiGo was followed by Jet Airways and Air India, which transported 12.62 lakh and 11.98 lakh passengers, respectively, during April. No-frills SpiceJet also ferried more than a million passengers in that period, according to the data. In terms of market share, while IndiGo gained marginally in April with 38.7 per cent against 38.4 per cent in April 2015, Jet Airways saw its market share declining to 15.9 per cent from 17.6 per cent in the corresponding period of last year. The passenger load factor last month has slightly increased compared to March primarily due to the onset of tourist season, DGCA said.

For the 12 consecutive months, according to the DGCA data, SpiceJet saw more than 90 per cent seat factor at 93.2 per cent followed by GoAir and IndiGo, both of whose seat factor during the month stood at 85.8 per cent.