Domestic air passenger traffic rises in October after four months of decline

Domestic air passenger traffic in India rebounded in the festival month of October after four straight months of decline, raising hopes in an economy that is in the midst of a slowdown and facing subdued consumer demand.

Domestic scheduled carriers carried 12.3 million passengers last month, an increase of about 4% from the year earlier, data issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday showed.

The airlines carried 11.5 million passengers in September, 11.7 million passengers in August, 11.9 million passengers in July and 12 million passengers during June.

“The passenger traffic growth is a bit muted. But, with more aircraft in our fleet than ever before, we expect the growth to pick up in the coming months,” said a senior DGCA official, requesting anonymity.

InterGlobe Aviation Ltd’s IndiGo continued its market dominance as it carried nearly one in every two passengers. Its market share, however, fell to 47.4% in October, from 48.2% in September. The airline carried 5.84 million passengers last month, up from nearly 5.56 million passengers in September.

No-frill carrier SpiceJet Ltd flew two million passengers, achieving a 16.3% market share.

The Ajay Singh-led airline’s market share rose from 14.7% last month. Air India Ltd had a 12.6% market share as it flew 1.54 million passengers.

Despite the fall in domestic passenger traffic in the past four months, passengers carried by domestic airlines during January to October 2019 grew 3.1% to 118.2 million as against 114.6 million in the corresponding period of the previous year, according to DGCA.

Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January October 2018 had grown 20.1% year-on-year to 114.6 million passengers).

“We expect an all-time high fleet of more than 616 aircraft in the air soon. And with some more aircraft joining our fleet by 31 December, we expect a return to double-digit growth in the early part of next year,” said the DGCA official mentioned above.