New Delhi: Domestic air passenger traffic rose 4.4% in May compared to last year, data released by the civil aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stated on Friday.
According to the DGCA, the domestic airlines flew over 13.7 million passengers last month compared to 13.2 million in May last year.
Comparing the year-on-year data, the regulator stated, “Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January – May 2024 were 661.42 lakhs (66.142 million) as against 636.07 lakhs (63.607 million) during the corresponding period of the previous year thereby, registering an annual growth of 3.99% and monthly growth of 4.40%.”
The data also pointed out that among the major airlines, Air India saw the maximum number of flight cancellations last month, followed by IndiGo and SpiceJet, and weather remained the most common reason for their cancellations followed by operational reasons.
A maximum number of passenger complaints were received against SpiceJet among the major airlines, it said.
The DGCA data also showed that Akasa Air’s flights were most punctual. The On-Time Performance (OTP) of Akasa Air was recorded to be highest at 85.9%, followed by Vistara at 81.9%, AIX (Air India Express) Connect 74.9%, IndiGo 72.8%, Air India 68.4% and SpiceJet 60.7%.
Pointing out the market shares of the airlines, the data showed that IndiGo saw its share growing to 61.6% while Air India’s share declined to 13.7% from 14.2% in April 2024.
Vistara’s share stood at 9.2%, however, AIX Connect’s share fell to 5.1% from 5.4% in the previous month, the data stated. Akasa Air’s share increased to 4.8% in May from 4.4% in April while at the same time, SpiceJet’s market share declined to 4% from 4.7% in the previous month, the data showed.
