Domestic air traffic registers growth

New Delhi: After a drop in April, domestic air traffic registered a growth of 2.62 per cent in India. According to latest data released by Directorate General of Civil  Aviation (DGCA) the passengers carried by domestic airlines between January to May this year were 586.54 lakhs compared to 571.58 lakhs during the corresponding period of previous year. 

The DGCA statistics showed that the passenger load factor in the month of May this year has marginally increased compared to previous mo-nth due to ongoing tourist season. In April, domestic air passenger traffic had dropped by 4.5 per cent over the same period last year primarily due to suspension of operations by Jet Airways on April 17 due to lack of funds.

The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for the month of May was 0.81 per cent with highest in Air Deccan followed by Pawan Hans, Star Air, Trujet and Air India.

Among the airlines, IndiGo maintained its lead position with 49 per cent share of the domestic passenger market in May even though SpiceJet’s market share increased from 13.1 per cent in April to 14.8 per cent in May, giving it second place.

The market share of Air India, GoAir, AirAsia and Vistara were 13.5 per cent, 11.1 per cent, 6.3 per cent and 4.7 per cent, respectively, in May this year.

“During May 2019, a total of 746 passenger related complaints had been received by the scheduled domestic airlines. The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried for the month of May 2019 has been around 0.61,” the DGCA report said.

Air India had the highest number of passenger grievances with 1.7 complaints per 10,000 passengers in the month of May, On the passenger load factor, Spicejet topped the list with 93.9 per cent followed by GoAir (93.3%), IndiGo (90.9%), Vistara (85.6%), and Air India (85%).