AirAsia India's passenger traffic nearly doubles

No-frills airline AirAsia India's passenger traffic nearly doubled to 11.7 lakh passengers in three months to September over the year-ago period on the back of capacity addition and network expansion.
The Bengaluru-based joint venture airline between Tata Sons and Malaysia's AirAsia group had flown 5.89 lakh passengers in the July-September quarter of 2016.
AirAsia India (AAI) carried 11.7 lakh passengers in the third quarter of the current calender year, registering 99 per cent growth over the same quarter of 2016, it said.
Also, the number of seats offered by the airline across its planes rose 104 per cent to over 13.74 lakh, up from 6.72 lakh, AAI said, adding it ended the quarter with a fleet of 13 aircraft after adding three more planes during the reporting period.

However, the passenger load factor, which is a measure of how much of an airline's passenger carrying capacity is used, declined three per cent to 85 per cent during the quarter over the same period of 2016.
AAI commenced operations from six new routes, four originating from Kolkata and one each from Bhubaneswar and Hyderabad, besides increasing frequencies on three routes originating from Bengaluru, it said.
The airline currently flies to Bengaluru, Kochi, Goa, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Pune, New Delhi, Guwahati, Imphal, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Srinagar, Bagdogra, Ranchi, Kolkata and Bhubaneswar with a fleet of 13 A320 aircraft.
The airline, which launched services in June 2013, plans to fly overseas from next year but has not yet announced firm dates.