Air passenger traffic surges 6.1% in Jan-March; IndiGo reports best 'on time performance'

Domestic air passenger traffic in the January-March period surged to 248 lakh, compared to 233.83 lakh in the corresponding period last year, an increase of 6.1 per cent, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said.

In March alone, the domestic carriers carried 106.96 lakh passengers, which was 36.7 per cent higher as compared to February 2022 when the monthly domestic traffic stood at 78.22 lakh, according to DCGA.

"Passengers carried by domestic airlines during Jan-March 2022 were 248.00 lakhs as against 233.83 lakhs during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering annual growth of 6.06 per cent and monthly growth of 36.74 per cent," the DGCA report said.

Private carrier IndiGo continued to maintain its lead position, with a market share of 54.8 per cent during the month of March. The numbers marked a rise as compared to February, when the airline's market share stood at 51.3 per cent. Tata aviation pack's (Air Asia ,Air India, Vistara) total market share is at 24.5 per cent, while Go First's market share is at 9.7 per cent, SpiceJet at 10.2 per cent and Alliance Air at 1.4 per cent.

Air India's market share slipped to 8.8 per cent in March, compared to 11.1 per cent in February, the report said.

The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for the month of March has been 0.30 percent, the DGCA said.

During the same period, a total of 458 passenger related complaints had been received by the domestic airlines, the aviation body said, pointing out that the maximum number of complaints, 183, was registered by Air India.

There were 853 passengers that were denied boarding at the compensation of Rs 27.60 lakh, while 7,582 passengers were affected by cancellations at the cost of Rs 14.67 lakh worth of compensation and facilities. About 1,41,840 passengers were affected due to flight delays with facilities worth Rs 48.14 lakh.