Air traffic grows 21per cent in March, IndiGo market share increases to 56.8 per cent

NEW DELHI:  Indian airlines carried a total of 1.28 crore domestic passengers in March 2023, a 21.41% increase year-on-year.  For the January-March quarter (Q4FY23), airlines clocked a 51% increase in domestic passenger traffic to 3.75 crores, according to data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

The passenger traffic in March 2023 is the highest post covid-19 and was just a few thousand away from the highest-ever monthly traffic ever recorded. India saw the highest-ever monthly traffic of 1.30 crore in December 2019.

The country’s leading carrier IndiGo increased its domestic market share from 53.8% in Q4FY22 to 55.7% in Q4FY23. For the month of March alone, IndiGo’s share in the domestic market stood at 56.8%.
While IndiGo maintains its lion’s share, Tata group’s flagship airline Air India’s market share fell from 9.9% in Q4FY22 to 9% in Q4FY23 while Vistara’s share remained stagnant at 8.8%. AirAsia India saw an increase in market share from 5.8% to 7.3%.  

SpiceJet and Go First, the two carriers which have been facing financial difficulties, reported a significant drop in market share. While SpiceJet’s share fell from 10.2% in Q4FY22 to 6.9% in Q4FY23, Go First’s share came down from 9.8% to 7.8%. The market share of the recently launched Akasa Air improved to 3.3% in March from 3% in February. Domestic air passenger traffic is expected to remain robust and clock double-digit growth of 17% in FY24, rating agency Crisil said in its report last month.

Crisil added that air traffic will pick up pace due to rising international and business travel, capacity expansion by airport operators, and higher availability of aircraft.