IndiGo maintained its position as the most punctual airline in India for the second consecutive month in December. The airline flew 96.15 lakh passengers with a market share of 64.4 percent, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data.
IndiGo turned in an on-time performance (OTP) of 73.4 percent at four metro airports – New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Air India and Akasa Air were second and third, followed by SpiceJet.
The OTP of airlines fell in December compared to November due to fog setting in parts of north India during the month. Punctuality fell by 5-8 percent in December 2024 from November 2024.
When looking at 2024, as a whole, India's newest airline Akasa Air was the most punctual carrier at the four metro airports with an average of 71.32 percent OTP of its flights departing on time throughout 2024. IndiGo was the second most punctual carrier in 2024, followed by Air India.
Domestic air traffic rose 8.2 percent year on year to 14.93 million passengers in December, according to DGCA data released on January 23. More people flew in December than in November and October, when passenger traffic stood at 14.252 million and 13.658 million passengers, respectively.
Domestic airlines carried 161.3 million passengers during the January-December period, up 6.1 percent from 152 million a year ago, the civil aviation regulator said.
Aviation pie
IndiGo's market share in December rose to 64.8 percent from 63.6 percent in November, 63.3 percent in October and 63 percent in September. The airline carried 9.615 million passengers in December. IndiGo’s market share had risen for four straight months.
Air India retained its position as the second-largest domestic carrier with a market share of 26.4 percent after flying 3.946 million passengers. Its market share rose 200 basis points in December when compared to November. The Tata Group airline’s market share in December represented its combined market share after the merger with Vistara and subsidiary AIX Connect, formerly AirAsia India.
Akasa Air remained in the third spot ahead of SpiceJet as it carried 689,000 passengers in December with a market share of 4.6 percent, 10 basis points lower from November.
SpiceJet's market share was 3.3 percent. The airline carried 489,000 passengers. It had a peak market share of 10.7 percent in February 2022.
The passenger load factor, or the occupancy rate, of SpiceJet, IndiGo, Air India, and Akasa Air stood at 87.4 percent, 90.6 percent, 84.7 percent, and 93.3 percent, respectively, in December.
Passenger complaints
As many as 817 passenger complaints were received in December, the data showed. The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried was about 0.55.
Baggage related issues made up 25.8 percent of passenger complaints in December 2024. Around 24.6 percent of passenger complaints were due to flight problems, 21.3 percent due to refund issues, and 7.7 percent due to customer service. Disability, staff behaviour, catering, and fare issues combined made up 7.7 percent of all complaints received in December, while 12.9 percent of complaints were for 'other' reasons, the DGCA said.
As many as 2,147 passengers were denied boarding by airlines in December. A total of 67,622 passengers were affected by flight cancellations and 2,79,985 passengers were impacted due to flight delays last month. Airlines paid Rs 176.37 lakh as compensation and facilities to passengers for denying boarding, Rs 126.10 lakh as compensation to passengers for flight cancellations and Rs 378.60 lakh as facilitation to passengers for flight delays last month.
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