Local air traffic up 14% in Sept

Domestic air traffic grew by over 14 per cent in September, with 11 Indian carriers together flying a total of 6,666,000 passengers during the month as compared to 5,819,000 in the corresponding period a year ago. Total number of passengers flown by the domestic carriers in September stood at 6,666,000, a total of 847,000 more over September 2014, thereby logging a healthy growth of 14.56 per cent, according to the DGCA's report. The seat occupancy across airlines, however, clocked lower than August 2015 due to the end of tourists season, DGCA said. According to the DGCA, while budget carrier IndiGo continued its market leadership with 36.5 per cent market share, rival SpiceJet increased its seat factor by almost one per cent to 93 per cent as against 92.1 per cent in August. Air India and Jet Airways, however, marginally lost market pie while Wadia-group promoted GoAir gained by just 0.6 per cent during this period.