Domestic air traffic falls 12%

Domestic air traffic declined by 12.22 per cent in the first quarter of calendar year 2009, compared with the same period last year, and by 16.21 per cent in March when compared with the same month last year.

As the impact of the special fares announced in January wore out, the month of March saw passenger loads of domestic carriers fall to 65 per cent, down from around 74 per cent in the previous month.

According to figures released by the civil aviation ministry, domestic airlines carried 9.8 million passengers in the first quarter of calendar year 2009, while they carried 3.1 million passengers in March 2009.
 

SLOWDOWN CLOUDS IN THE SKIES
Airlines	Passenger load factors (%)
	February	March
Indian	66.3	57.0
Jet Airways	68.7	60.6
JetLite	74.2	64.3
Kingfisher	74.3	60.9
SpiceJet	78.5	67.5
Go Air	66	61
IndiGo	82	70
Source: Ministry of Civil Aviation

While the marketshares of most carriers remained the same compared to February, passenger loads saw a considerable decline. IndiGo, which still has the highest loads in the industry, not counting Paramount that operates smaller aircraft, saw its loads decline from 82 per cent in February to 70 per cent in March.
 

Airlines	Marketshare (%)
	February	March
Indian	17.2	17.1
Jet Airways	17.9	17.8
JetLite	7.5	7.3
Kingfisher	27.1	26.7
SpiceJet	12.4	12
Go Air	2.5	3
IndiGo	13.2	13.4

“The rock-bottom prices announced in January had led to a considerable increase in the passenger load factors, which we saw in February. However that effect wore out by March and hence the loads dipped,” said an industry expert.