NEW DELHI: India’s aviation sector recorded the highest-ever domestic passenger traffic in October, as more than 1.4 crore passengers flew within the country, according to data released by the government on Friday.
According to data released by the aviation safety regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the carriers flew as many as 10.45 million passengers. The statistics showed that all domestic airlines, except the disinvestment-bound national carrier Air India registered a healthy Passenger Load Factor (PLF) at above 80 per cent. The PLF is a measure of how full the plane flies.
The largest domestic player in the aviation sector IndiGo continued to top the charts even in October. The budget carrier IndiGo flew the most number of passengers at 41.33 lakh, while the second-largest player Jet Airways was at a distant second with 15.88 lakh passengers. IndiGo also increased its market share by nearly a percentage points to 39.5 per cent, up from 38.2 per cent in the previous month.
Interestingly, Air India unseated low-cost carrier SpiceJet for the third spot with 13.66 lakh passengers against 13.64 lakh flown by the SpiceJet. But Air India, of course flew more flights than SpiceJet, data reveals. The other budget carriers GoAir and AirAsia India flew 9.24 lakh and 4.52 lakh passengers, respectively. Vistara, the third full-service carrier after Air India and Jet Airways, ferried 3.70 lakh in the month.
“Registering a year-on-year growth of 17.30 per cent in October, the passenger traffic has remained strong as a result of increased passenger load in the peak festive season. Continuous capacity expansion by the airlines on popular routes, addition of new sectors and slightly lower fares added to the growth momentum. We anticipate that Christmas and New Year’s bonanza will further accelerate the passenger traffic in the coming month,” said Sharat Dhall, COO of travel portal Yatra.com, reacting to the government data.