Domestic air passenger traffic rises 9.1 per cent in January

Domesticairpassengertrafficrose9.1percentinJanuary,withthecountry'sairlinescarrying125.08lakhpassengersduringthemonth,accordingtoDGCAdatareleasedonWednesday.

DomesticairpassengertrafficinJanuarylastyearwas114.65lakh.

Themarketshareofno-frillsairlineIndiGoforJanuaryfellto42.5percentandthatofnationalcarrierAirIndiadroppedto12.2percent,showedthelatestdatabytheaviationregulator.

InDecemberlastyear,IndiGo'smarketsharewas43.2percentwhileAirIndia'smarketsharewas12.4percent.

TheJanuarydataoftheDirectorateGeneralofCivilAviation(DGCA)showedthatthemarketshareofSpiceJet,JetAirways,GoAir,AirAsia,Vistarastoodat13.3percent,11.9percent,8.7percent,5.3percentand3.8percent,respectively.

InDecemberlastyear,thesefiveairlineshadthemarketshareof12.3percent,12.2percent,8.8percent,5.3percentand3.8percent,respectively.

Lastmonth,atotalof917passenger-relatedcomplaintswerereceivedbythescheduleddomesticairlines.Thenumberofcomplaintsper10,000passengerscarriedforthemonthofJanuary,2019hasbeenaround0.73,theDGCAdatashowed.

Asmanyas3,156passengersweredeniedboardingand37,819flierswereimpactedbyflightcancellationsinJanuary.Further,2,64,724peoplewereaffectedbyflightdelayslastmonth.

ShilpaBhatia,theChiefSalesandRevenueOfficer,SpiceJet,onWednesdaysaid,"InJanuary2019werecordedaPLFof90.9%.Thisisthe46thmonthinarowthatSpiceJet,amongthemajorscheduledcarriers,hasflownwiththehighestloadsintheIndianskies."

PassengerLoadFactor(PLF)measuresthecapacityutilisationinanairline.

ThePLFofaplaneiscalculatedbyfirstdividingthenumberofpassengerstonumberofseatsinaplane,andthendividingtheresultingnumberby100.