Domestic air passenger traffic rises 6 pc in September

Domestic carriers flew 1.30 crore passengers in September, which is 6.38 per cent higher compared to the year-ago period, according to official data released on Tuesday. In September last year, airlines carried 1.22 crore passengers.

IndiGo's market share rose to 63 per cent while that of Air India climbed to 15.1 per cent in September 2024, as per the data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

AIX Connect, which was merged with Air India Express this month, topped the list of airlines in terms of On Time Performance (OTP) at 70.1 per cent, replacing Akasa Air, whose OTP slipped to 62.1 per cent.

The data showed that Vistara's market share dipped to 10 per cent and that of AIX Connect slipped to 4.1 per cent last month.

The overall domestic market share of Air India Group comprising Air India, AIX Connect and Vistara touched 29.2 per cent.

In September, Akasa Air and SpiceJet carried saw 5.73 lakh and 2.61 lakh passengers, respectively. While Akasa Air's market share stood at 4.4 per cent, that of SpiceJet dropped to 2 per cent.

Crisis-hit SpiceJet saw its market declining 64 per cent in September compared to January when it had cornered 5.6 per cent of the total 1.31 crore domestic air passengers flown by the Indian airlines.

Meanwhile, the OTP of IndiGo stood at 69.2 per cent, followed by Vistara (69.1 per cent) and Air India (68.1 per cent). The OTP of SpiceJet and Alliance Air in September stood at 30.4 per cent and 53.8 per cent, respectively.

OTP of scheduled domestic airlines is computed for four metro airports -- Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

As many as 48,222 passengers were impacted by flight cancellations and airlines spent Rs 88.14 lakh towards compensation and facilities for them in September.

Flight delays impacted 2,16,484 passengers last month and airlines spent Rs 2.4 crore towards facilitation, as per the data.

For denied boarding, airlines shelled out Rs 75.08 lakh towards compensation and facilities for 756 affected passengers.