Budget airline AirAsia India's passenger traffic up by 57% in Jan-March

The airline flew 8.4 lakh passengers in the Jan-March quarter of the current year

AirAsia India flew 8.4 lakh passengers in the January-March quarter of the current year, up 57% from 5.38 lakh in the same period of 2016, aided by new routes and higher capacity.

The Bengaluru-based airline, which is a joint venture between Tata Sons and Malaysia's AirAsia Berhad, raised its fleet size to nine aircraft from six in the first quarter of the previous year, AirAsia India said in a statement today.

The number of passengers carried increased by 57% year-on-year to 0.84 million, with 50% increase in capacity, the airline said.

The seat factor, a measure of how full the plane flies, also increased by 3% to 89% in the quarter from 86% in Q1CY16.

Three new routes, Delhi-Srinagar, Delhi-Bagdogra and Delhi-Pune, were added in AirAsia India's network, it said adding that the frequency on the Delhi-Goa route also increased in the first quarter of the current year.

AirAsia India, which will be completing three years of operations in June, currently flies on 20 domestic routes from three hubs — Bengaluru, Kolkata and New Delhi.