Domestic airlines in India recorded 51.7 percent year-on-year (YoY) passenger growth in January-March 2023, the data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) showed.
The airlines carried 375.04 lakh passengers from January-March 2023 as compared to 247.23 lakh in the same period last year, while the growth on a month-on-month (MoM) basis stood at 21.41 percent, with 128.93 lakh passengers carried in March 2023 as compared to 106.19 lakh in March 2022.
Private airline IndiGo - the country's largest carrier in terms of market share, commanded its position at 56.8 percent in March 2023, with a total number of passengers carried out standing at 73.17 lakh in March 2023. It was followed by Vistara at 8.9 percent (11.49 lakh passengers) and Air India at 8.8 percent (11.39 lakh passengers).
Also Read: Domestic passenger traffic jumps 74% YoY in February, says DGCA
Akasa Air gained market share by 30 basis points, according to DGCA data. Akasa management said it will get to 20 aircraft by May and to 26-27 aircraft by March next year and from there on 12-16 aircraft every year for the next 3 years. Towards the later part of 2023, the company will announce about new aircraft orders and its plans to go international.
On the other hand, the market share slipped both for SpiceJet and GoFirst by 70-100 basis points. SpiceJet completed the spinning off of the cargo business into a separate unit through a slump sale of around Rs 25 billion.
The passenger load factor (PLF) for various airlines in March shows SpiceJet recording the highest PLF at 92.3 percent, followed by Vistara at 91.6 percent and Go First at 90.2 percent, the DGCA said.
The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines in March stood at 0.28 percent, the DGCA said, adding that Fly Big accounted for most of the cancellations at 4.48 percent, followed by Indiaone Air at 1.55 percent.
A total of 347 passenger-related complaints had been received by the scheduled domestic airlines, with IndiaOne Air accounting for the highest, 5.6 percent, of the overall complaints during the month.
DGCA notified through a filing that US body (FAA) said that India meets international standards for aviation safety oversight. India continues to retain FAA IASA “Cat-1” status. This rating is key for Air India (among others) as it may continue to add new flights to US.
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