Domestic air passenger traffic fell 2.94 per cent year-on-year to 1.26 crore in July, according to data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
Indian airlines had flown 1.29 crore passengers in July 2024. The decline comes weeks after the June 12 Air India Ahmedabad-London Gatwick crash that killed 260 people.
Air India Group, which had announced a 5 per cent cut in domestic capacity in late June to conduct fleet checks, lost about 1 percentage point in market share in July. It carried 33.08 lakh passengers compared with the previous month.
IndiGo, the country’s largest airline, increased its share of the domestic market to 65.2 per cent from 64.5 per cent in June. However, it flew fewer passengers month-on-month – 82.15 lakh in July compared with 87.74 lakh in June
Akasa Air and SpiceJet posted marginal gains in market share at 5.5 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively.
DGCA data also showed load factors, or the percentage of occupied seats, declined across airlines in July. Air India Group’s load factor dropped to 78.6 per cent from 81.5 per cent in June.
Among major carriers, IndiGo recorded the best on-time performance at 91.4 per cent from six metro airports – Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.