114 Lakh Indians Opted For Air Travel In October As Domestic Flyers Surge By 27%; Indigo Still #1 Airlines!

The latest data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation indicates that India’s domestic air passenger traffic went up 27 percent to 114.07 Lakh passengers for the month of October.

Civil Aviation Data Released 

In September the domestic air traffic numbers stood at 105.55 lakh passengers.

Interestingly, the number is nearly 10 percent up from the domestic air traffic numbers for September.

The domestic airlines carried 988.31 lakh passengers during January-October 2022 as the data from civil aviation regulator.

It is up from 620.96 lakh during the corresponding period last year.

But it can not be denied that air traffic was still less than what it was prior to COVID-19.

 In October 2019, 123.16 lakh passengers were transported by domestic airlines.

When it comes to Individual market shares of airlines, with 64.71 lakh passengers carried in October, IndiGo, the largest airline in India, saw a decline in market share of 100 basis points from September to 56.7 percent.

Second place is occupied by Vistara Airlines with a market share of 9.2 percent as it carried 10.49 lakh passengers over the period. 

For Vistara, market share has decreased for a second consecutive month from 9.7 percent in August.

Further, 396 passenger complaints were made in October, as per the data.

Best On-time Performance By Air India 

Air India had the best on-time performance at four major airports including Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Mumbai in October with a 90.8 percent rate. 

Followed by Vistara and AirAsia, and then IndiGo offered their best.

When it comes to Air India, its market share for the month decreased from 9.2 percent in September to 9.1 percent in October. 

The recently privatized airline carried 10.38 lakh passengers in October. 

In terms of Market share, Air India became the fourth-largest domestic carrier in October surpassing GoFirst and SpiceJet.

In the case of GoFirst, its market share in October fell to 7.0 percent from 7.9 percent in September and 8.6 percent in August. 

By carrying 8.02 lakh passengers in October, the airline fell to the fifth slot in terms of market share for the same period.

SpiceJet kept its spot at number five in terms of market share in October. 

While making news for snags during flights, the airline saw its share remain at 7.3 percent in October by carrying 8.29 lakh passengers.

Passenger Load Factor

Coming to the passenger load factor or occupancy rates for the month of  October, SpiceJet, IndiGo, Vistara, Go First, 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.

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

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