July aviation data: Domestic passenger traffic up 24.7% on year, 3.1% fall from June

Airlines

India's domestic air traffic in July rose 24.7 percent compared to the same month last year. Domestic airlines carried 1.21 crore passengers in July, data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on August 14 shows.

However, domestic air traffic in July fell 3.1 percent compared to June when airlines carried 1.24 crore passengers. Air traffic has fallen for the second straight month in a row after it fell 5.5 percent in June compared to May when airlines carried 1.32 crore passengers.

Air traffic has returned to pre-Covid levels in India. In July 2019, domestic airlines carried 1.19 crore passengers.

July marks the fifth straight month when domestic air traffic in India has surpassed pre-COVID levels in India.

The aviation pie

The market share of India's largest airline, IndiGo, rose 20 basis points in July, recording the third straight month of rise in market share after the collapse of GoFirst, which stopped all operations on May 2.

IndiGo's market share for July stood at 63.4 percent, after rising by 180 basis points in June, 390 basis points in May, 70 basis points in April, 90 basis points in March and 130 basis points in February. The low-cost carrier flew 76.75 lakh passengers in July.

One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.

Air India retained its position as the second-largest domestic carrier in July and garnered a market share of 9.9 percent, flying 11.98 lakh passengers during the period.

The Tata-Group airline saw its market share rise for three consecutive months in a row in May, June and July mainly due to the grounding of Go First.

Air India witnessed its market share fall from 9.2 percent in January to 8.6 percent in April, falling 20-30 basis points every month.

Vistara's market share in July rose 30 basis points to 8.4 percent after falling in June, the airline flew 10.20 lakh passengers last month.

In June Vistara saw its market share fall by 90 basis points to 8.1 percent.

AirAsia India, which, is also part of the Tata stable, maintained its fourth spot in terms of market share. Its market share fell by 50 basis points to 7.5 percent in July, as the carrier served 9.01 lakh passengers.

AirAsia India had become the fourth largest player in terms of market share in March and has maintained the position ever since.

The new entrant Akasa Air overtook SpiceJet in terms of market share in June and widened the gap between itself and SpiceJet in July.

Akasa Air carried 6.24 lakh passengers in July garnering a market share of 5.2 percent, which rose 30 basis points when compared to June.

SpiceJet saw its market share fall another 20 basis points in July, as it continues to struggle with its operating capacity due to financial constraints.

On August 14, the Supreme Court issued a contempt notice to low-cost airline SpiceJet's chairman and managing director Ajay Singh on a plea filed by Credit Suisse, accusing the cash-strapped carrier of failing to comply with a court-approved settlement plan for payment of dues, adding to the Gurugram-based company's troubles.

In the last few months various lessors of SpiceJet have sought repossession of aircraft and some of the cases have been settled by the airline.

On August 9, Sun Group chairman Kalanithi Maran has filed an application in the Delhi High Court and has sought for attachment of 50 percent of SpiceJet's daily revenues towards payment of Rs. 393 crore that the low cost airline owes him.

SpiceJet had seen its market share fall 100 basis points in June, 40 basis points in May, 60 basis points in April, 70 basis points in March, 20 basis points in February, and 30 basis points in January.

The airline's market share has fallen consecutively for the last 14 months in a row, data from the DGCA showed. SpiceJet had a peak market share of 10.7 percent in February 2022.

Most of GoFirst's market share of 6.4 percent carrying 8.29 lakh passengers in April has gone the way of IndiGo for the last three months, as the latter has seen its market share rise 590 basis points in the last three months.

The passenger load factor, or the occupancy rate, of SpiceJet, Vistara, IndiGo, Air India and AirAsia India stood at 88.9 percent, 87 percent, 83.7 percent, 84.2 percent, and 82.3 percent, respectively, in July.

Akasa Air, India's newest carrier, saw its passenger load factor remain fall slightly in July to 86.6 percent in July from 91.1 percent in June.

The airline has completed on full year of operations on August 7, 2023.

As many as 349 passenger complaints were received in July, data shows. The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried was around 0.29.

In July, IndiGo had the best on-time performance, leapfrogging Vistara who had taken over the pole position in June. IndiGo recorded an on-time performance of 86.8 percent at four metro airports — Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai in July.

Vistara and Air Asia were the second and third followed by Akasa Air.

On-time performance of Indian carriers recorded a 2-5 percent drop in July when compared to June as heavy rainfall across India forced the airlines to delay flights.

On-time performance in June saw a 4-5 percent drop when compared to May due to heavy rainfalls across India.