October aviation data: Domestic air passenger traffic up 27% YoY, 10.2% MoM

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India's domestic air traffic rose 27 percent year on year to 114.07 lakh passengers in October, data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on November 22 shows.

More people flew in October than in September when passenger traffic stood at 103.55 lakh.

Also Read | Domestic airfares unlikely to drop back to pre-COVID levels as airlines battle cost surge

During the January-October 2022 period, domestic air carriers carried 988.31 lakh passengers, up from 620.96 lakh during the year-ago period, an annual growth of 59 percent, the civil aviation regulator said.

The air traffic, however, was still lower than pre-COVID levels. In October 2019, domestic airlines flew 123.16 lakh passengers.

IndiGo sees a dip, AirAsia gains  

The market share of India's largest airline IndiGo fell 100 basis points from September to 56.7 percent, with the low-cost carrier flying 64.71 lakh passengers in October.

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

Vistara remained at number two with a market share of 9.2 percent, flying 10.49 lakh passengers during the period. The airline’s market share fell for a second straight month from 9.7 percent in August and 9.6 percent in September.

Also Read: September domestic air traffic rises 46.5% YoY to 103.55 lakh passengers

Tata-owned Air India flew 10.38 lakh passengers in October. Its market share saw a small drop from 9.2 percent in September to 9.1 percent in October but it retained the third slot.

AirAsia India saw its market share rise 170 basis points in October to 7.6 percent from 5.9 percent in September. The airline became the fourth-biggest domestic carrier surpassing GoFirst and SpiceJet.

SpiceJet remained at number five, accounting for 7.3 percent of the domestic market in October, the same as the previous month. The airline, which has been making news for flight snags, flew 8.29 lakh passengers in October.

Also Read | SpiceJet shares settle marginally lower

The market share of Go First, formerly GoAir, dropped to 7 percent in October from 7.9 percent in the previous month. It slipped to the sixth position, carrying 8.02 lakh passengers during the month.

The passenger load factor, or the occupancy rate, of SpiceJet, IndiGo, Vistara, GoFirst, Air India and AirAsia India stood at 88.1 percent, 82.1 percent, 85.5 percent, 86.7 percent, 82.7 percent, and 84.2 percent, respectively, in October.

Akasa Air, India's newest carrier saw a slight fall in its passenger load factor, falling to 77.5 percent in October, its third month of operations, from 81.2 percent in September.

The airline carried 1.61 lakh passengers in October, garnering a market share of 1.4 percent.

As many as 396 passenger complaints were received in October, data shows. The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried was around 0.35.

In October, Air India had the best on-time performance of 90.8 percent at four metro airports—Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

Vistara and AirAsia were the second and third best followed by IndiGo.