Domestic air traffic grows 34% in August to over 67 lakh

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Domestic air travel seems to be picking up after the covid wave. Around 67.01 lakh domestic passengers travelled by air in August, against the 50.07 lakh in July, a jump of almost 34%, the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Thrusday.

The regulator said 31.13 lakh people, 21.15 lakh people and 57.25 lakh had travelled within the country by air in June, May and April, respectively.

The traffic in May took a big hit due to the second wave of Covid.

While IndiGo carried 38.16 lakh passengers in August, a 57% market share. While SpiceJet flew 5.84 lakh passengers, accounting for a 8.7% market share. Air India, Go First (previously known as GoAir), Vistara and AirAsia India carried 8.86 lakh, 4.58 lakh, 5.58 lakh and 3.49 lakh passengers, respectively, in August, according to DGCA data.

Occupancy highest in SpiceJet

The occupancy rate for the six major airlines in August was between 60.3% and 79.6%, it stated. SpiceJet had the highest occupancy rate at 79.6%.  The occupancy rates for IndiGo, Vistara, Go First, Air India and AirAsia India were 74%, 71.3%, 67.6%, 68.4% and 60.3%, respectively.

The aviation sector has been significantly impacted due to the travel restrictions imposed in India and other countries in view of the pandemic.

India resumed domestic passenger flights on May 25 last year after a gap of two months due to coronavirus. Indian airlines are allowed to operate a maximum of 72.5 per cent of their pre-pandemic domestic flights.

The DGCA data mentioned that in August 2021, IndiGo had the best on-time performance of 96.5 per cent at four metro airports — Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

AirAsia India and Vistara were at the second and third positions at these four airports in August with 96.3 per cent and 95.6 per cent on-time performance respectively, the DGCA said.

All airlines in India have opted for cost-reducing measures such as pay cuts, leave without pay and layoffs in order to tide over the coronavirus-induced crisis.