The financial downslide took its toll on the Indian aviation sector with the passenger traffic recording a negative growth rate of about eight per cent in the first half of this year.

Passengers carried by domestic airlines between January and June came down to about 2.11 crore from 2.29 crore in the same month last year, thereby registering negative growth of approximately eight per cent, official traffic data released today said.

However, the total domestic passengers carried by the scheduled carriers in the second quarter of 2009 (April to June) was 109.38 lakh as against 98.22 lakh between January and March.

In the second quarter of this year, Kingfisher Airlines and its low-cost subsidiary Kingfisher Red topped the list of Indian carriers by flying 27.72 lakh passengers. It was followed by Jet Airways and its subsidiary JetLite, together carrying 25.91 lakh, and Air India (Domestic) with 19.18 lakh.

Among the no-frill carriers, IndiGo flew 14.98 lakh air travellers, followed by SpiceJet (13.57 lakh) and GoAir (5.34 lakh), while full-business class carrier Paramount carried 2.30 lakh air travellers, the data showed.

The percentage market share of the carriers between January and June showed that Air India (Domestic) cornered 17.5 per cent, Jet Airways 16.3 per cent, Jet Lite 7.4 per cent, Kingfisher Airlines (including Kingfisher Red) 25.3, SpiceJet 12.4, Paramount 2.1, GoAir 4.9 and IndiGo 13.7.

Kingfisher and its low-cost subsidiary bagged the maximum percentage share in the first six months of this year, removing Jet Airways from the top position. Jet and JetLite together had last year (January-June) cornered 29.3 per cent of the market share.

Both no-frill carriers IndiGo and SpiceJet had a lower percentage share in the first half of last year, which improved during the same period this year.

Figures relating to cancellation of flights saw Paramount Airways topping the list with the highest cancellation of 16 per cent, followed by Jet Airways with 4.1 per cent and MDLR Airlines with 2.6 per cent.

The cancellation rate of Paramount Airways was on the higher side and well above the industry average, an official spokesperson said. Of its 16 per cent cancellations, about 15 per cent was due to technical reasons and the remaining commercial.

The best performance on punctuality was by IndiGo at 87 per cent, Jet Airways 86.4 per cent, GoAir 83.4 per cent, Kingfisher 83 per cent and Air India (Domestic) and Alliance Air jointly 75.7 per cent, the data showed.

New Ipad Application :Business Standard's all new IPad App Click here to download for free Other Stories      - Markets flat in afternoon deals - Wheat marginally down in futures trade - Inox Leisure Q4 net loss widens to Rs 10 cr - Crompton Greaves hits 52-wk low as Q4 net halves - GSM operators add 6.50 million users in April

Tags : Indian aviation sector | passenger traffic growth rate   Read Business news in  Advertisements -  Journey on, We are by Your Side. Click here to know more -  Benefits Upto Rs. 2.36 Lakhs on the Fully Loaded TJet Petrol. -  The Best Seller is Also the No. 1 in Mileage. Click here -  Watch The Film Here. Click here to know more.. -  Leader in Passenger Car & Automobile Tyres. Click here -  1 billion in saving for Unilever without any tangles. -  Learn How One City is Running on FOOD SCRAPS. -  One Partnership Endless Possibilities. Click here to know more -  Helping doctors detect diseases earlier, saving costs & extending lives. -  36 Lakhs can get you a pool of Luxuries. Click here -  Which is the best plan for your daughter -  Check out the TRUE COLOURS of your Stocks, Now for FREE! -  One of the leading business schools in the world.Know More