Domestic air traffic up 18.7% in August

Load factor increased to 77.2% compared to 75.3% in last August

Domestic air traffic continues to show strong growth, with passenger volumes rising 18.66 per cent in August on a year-on-year basis,  driven by low fares. The passenger load factor increased to 77.2 per cent from 75.3 per cent a year earlier.

Domestic airlines carried 6.7 million passengers in August, compared with 5.6 million a year earlier, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation data. IndiGo remains  the leader, with 35.3 per cent share. Its market share, however, fell for the second consecutive month. Jet Airways and JetLite together accounted for 22.8 per cent, followed by Air India with 16.6 per cent.

SpiceJet continues to top occupancy charts, registering a load factor of 92.1 per cent, followed by Jet Airways (80.8 per cent) and Air India (79.3 per cent). SpiceJet said it had registered the highest load factor in the domestic sector for the fifth consecutive month.

Only Air India and Vistara reported growth in occupancy in August compared to July. Vistara, however, continues to have the lowest load factor among all domestic airlines (62.9 per cent). It, however, led the others in terms of punctuality, with 95 per cent of flights on time in August.

During August, airfares fell 12-15 per cent compared to a year earlier and that contributed to passenger growth, said Samyukth Sridharan, president of Cleartrip.  Shilpa Bhatia, senior vice-president and head of sales, SpiceJet, said, “We always believe in maximising asset utilisation and unit revenues.

Every empty seat in a flight is an opportunity lost. With only one per cent of the Indian population travelling by air, we have huge potential in the market, something we just cannot afford to ignore.”

Sanjiv Kapoor, chief operating officer, SpiceJet, said, “Along with load factors in the 90 per cent range for the past four months, SpiceJet has also been making tremendous strides in on-time performance. In the second half of August and in September, it regularly hit 90 per cent, with a cancellation rate of less than one per cent.”