India’s Domestic Air Passenger Traffic Surges by 29.10% in September

India's Domestic Air Passenger Traffic Surges by 29.10% in September

VoM News Desk | October 13, 2023 | 06:38 AM IST | Travel | Follow on Google News

India’s Domestic Air Passenger Traffic Surges by 29.10% in September

India’s Domestic Air Passenger Traffic Surges by 29.10% in September

India’s domestic air passenger traffic experienced substantial growth, surging by 29.10% to reach 1.22 crore passengers in September, compared to 1.03 crore passengers during the same month the previous year. Notably, budget carrier IndiGo commanded a significant 63.4% of the total air traffic in the country.

IndiGo’s Flight Disruptions Affect Thousands of Passengers

Despite this impressive growth, there were significant disruptions for passengers. Over 76,000 passengers flying with budget carrier IndiGo were affected in September due to flight cancellations or delays exceeding two hours. Of the total affected passengers, 50,945 experienced cancellations, while another 25,667 faced delays. It’s important to note that IndiGo provided alternative flights and full refunds to passengers affected by cancellations. However, for delayed flights, the airline only offered refreshments.

Air India and SpiceJet Flight Delays

Air India, also Tata-owned, denied boarding to 450 passengers in September. Additionally, 24,758 passengers of Air India and 24,635 passengers of SpiceJet were affected by delays exceeding two hours. In response, Air India offered affected passengers flights on other airlines, refreshments, and lunch, spending Rs 5.27 lakh on facilitation efforts. SpiceJet, on the other hand, spent Rs 45.78 lakh on passenger facilitation, including alternative flights and refreshments.

Leading Domestic Air Carriers

IndiGo maintained its leadership in the domestic air passenger traffic, flying 77.70 lakh passengers during September. It was followed by Vistara with 12.29 lakh passengers and Air India with 11.97 lakh passengers. Both Vistara and Air India had a market share of 10% and 9.8%, respectively. Air India subsidiary AirAsia India, now known as AiX Connect, transported 8.16 lakh passengers with a 6.7% market share.

Other no-frills carriers, SpiceJet and Akasa Air, carried 5.45 lakh and 5.17 lakh passengers, respectively, with market shares of 4.4% and 4.2%. IndiGo boasted the highest on-time performance at 83.6% from four key airports: Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. Meanwhile, Vistara achieved a 92% load factor on its planes, the highest among all domestic airlines during the month.

VoM News Desk

VoM News is an online web portal in jammu Kashmir offers regional, National & global news.