Domestic air traffic soars in August
The passenger load factor or occupancy of the airlines remained on the higher side in the range of 70 to 80 per cent.
India’s domestic air passenger traffic grew by 17.17 per cent in August, official data showed on Monday.
According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), 1.13 crore passengers were ferried by domestic airlines during the month under review, up from 96.90 lakh reported during the corresponding month of 2017.
As per the data, passenger traffic during the January-August 2018 period grew by 21 per cent.
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“Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-August 2018 were 913.95 lakh as against 754.11 lakh during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering a growth of 21.20 per cent,” the DGCA said in its monthly domestic traffic report.
The data disclosed that low-cost carrier SpiceJet had the highest passenger load factor (PLF) — a measure of capacity utilisation of the airline — at 93.6 per cent during August.
“I am delighted with SpiceJet’s exceptional operational performance that has seen us emerge as the country’s most punctual airline clocking industry’s best on-time performance of 87.4 per cent and the highest passenger load factor of 93.6 per cent,” said Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet.
SpiceJet was followed by GoAir with a PLF of 84.6 per cent and IndiGo at 82.8 per cent and Vistara at 81.5 per cent.
“The passenger load factor in the month of August 2018 has shown increasing trend compared to previous month due to beginning of festive season,” the monthly statistical analysis statement said.
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