Domestic Air Passenger Traffic Rises In August On Pent-Up Demand
August is traditionally viewed as a weaker month for the aviation industry.
India’s domestic air passenger traffic rose in August compared with last year aided by greater business travel and pent-up demand for leisure travel.
Air passenger traffic rose 51% year-on-year to 1.01 crore, which is higher than the July figures of over 97 lakh, according to monthly data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
This is despite August being considered a traditionally weaker month for the aviation industry.
The market leader IndiGo’s (InterGlobe Aviation Ltd.) market share fell to 57.7% in August compared with 58.8% in July.
At the second spot, Vistara also witnessed a fall in market share to 9.7% from 10.4% in the previous month.
The youngest airline on the block, backed by the late ace-investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Akasa Air had a market share of 0.2% in the first month of operations.
Key Highlights In August (MoM):
Go First's market share is 8.6% vs 8.2%.
Air India's market share is 8.5% vs 8.4%.
SpiceJet Ltd.'s market share is 7.9% vs 8%.
AirAsia India's market share is 5.8% vs 4.6%.
Among the major airlines, SpiceJet had the highest load factor at 84.6% in August, followed by Vistara at 84.4%, Go First at 81.6% and IndiGo at 78.3%.
AirAsia India was the most punctual airline over the month, with 93.3% on-time performance. Vistara at 91.4% and Air India at 87.9% held the second and third spot, respectively. IndiGo was fourth with 85.5% punctuality.