Low ticket prices help increase in air travel

Domestic air travel witnessed an increase of around 22 per cent in number of passengers this May as compared to the same period last year as the airlines kept the ticket prices low.

According to the May passenger traffic data, released by directorate general of civil aviation  on Monday, 11 Indian carriers together carried 857 million passengers against 713 mn in May 2015, growth of 21.6 per cent.

Budget carrier IndiGo ferried the highest number of 33.37 lakh passengers during this period, followed by private full service carrier Jet Airways with 13.94 lakh and national carrier Air India flying 13.34 lakh passengers, respectively.

The number of passengers flown by SpiceJet and GoAir stood at 10.98 lakh and 7.91 lakh, respectively, according to the data.

The passenger load factor in the month of May has slightly increased compared to previous month primarily due to the onset of tourist season, with almost all carriers clocking between 80-93 per cent seat factor during April.

SpiceJet logged the highest seat factor at 93.5 per cent in May, according to the data.

During the month, Air India and Jet Airways saw a marginal improvement in their market share while IndiGo and SpiceJet witnessed a marginal decline in their market pie.