India's November passenger demand up 25 percent: IATA

Global airlines' association on Wednesday reported that India's domestic passenger demand grew by 25.1 percent in November 2015, the fastest amongst major aviation markets of the world.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), India's passenger traffic demand grew the fastest amongst the seven major aviation markets of the world.

India was followed by the US, China, Australia, Japan, Russian Federation and Brazil.

During November, India's 25.1 traffic demand growth was followed by the US at 9.1 percent and the Australia at 1.9 percent.

In sequential terms, the country's domestic passenger demand rose by 17.6 percent in October and 13.2 percent in September.

The country's domestic traffic spiked by 18.3 percent in August, 28 percent in July, 16.3 percent in June, 18.2 percent in May, 20.7 percent in April and 17.9 percent in March 2015.

India's domestic capacity in the month under review rose by 19.8 percent and load factor stood at 83.6 percent, when compared to November 2014.

According to IATA, India's domestic demand soared owing to significant increases in service frequencies and improvements in economic growth.

"India's strong results reflect notable increases in service frequencies, ongoing economic strength and the timing of the Diwali holiday, which occurred in October in 2014," IATA said in its global passenger traffic results for November.

India's growth is a significant contributor for the expansion of Asia-Pacific carriers. The domestic markets in India, China and Japan accounts for 44 percent of the region's operations.

On global-basis, total passenger traffic demand rose 6.4 percent in November 2015.

The global passenger traffic results, showed a 4.4 percent increase in capacity during the month under review, with a load factor of 81.1 percent.

"Consumers continue to benefit from lower fares, which are spurring demand," said Tony Tyler, director general and chief executive of IATA.

"The economy benefits from the stimulus to consumer spending. And airlines are starting to achieve minimum acceptable profit levels. It's good news all around, but as we open 2016, economic risks are mounting."

Earlier, data furnished by the civil aviation ministry showed that domestic air passenger traffic increased by 24.65 percent in November to 73.22 lakh passengers -- up from 58.74 lakh in the corresponding month of 2014.

In addition, the data disclosed that low-cost carrier IndiGo achieved the highest market share at 35.5 percent followed by Jet Airways (18.6), Air India (16.2), SpiceJet (13.3), GoAir (8.2) and JetLite (2.7 percent).

Besides, AirAsia India had a market share of 2.2 percent, followed by Vistara (1.9), Air Costa (0.6), Trujet (0.4) and Air Pegasus (0.3).