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.
