Domestic Air Passenger Traffic Shows Growth, IndiGo Dominates Market

In a sign of recovery for India's aviation sector, domestic air passenger traffic registered a 5.76% increase in June, rising to 1.32 crore passengers from 1.24 crore in the same month last year, according to data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Tuesday.

Leading the pack was budget carrier IndiGo, which carried 80.86 lakh passengers during the month, securing a commanding market share of 60.5%.

The Tata Group airlines, Air India and Vistara, followed with 17.47 lakh and 12.84 lakh passengers, respectively, translating to market share of 13.1% and 9.6% each.

Vistara, a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines in a 51:49 partnership, contributed significantly to the Tata Group's overall presence in the market. AIX Connect (formerly AirAsia India), another Tata Group entity, transported 7.70 lakh passengers, holding a market share of 5.8%.

Collectively, Tata Group airlines accounted for 28.5% of the total domestic passenger traffic in June, underscoring their growing influence in the sector.

SpiceJet and Akasa Air, the latter marking nearly two years of operations, also played notable roles. SpiceJet flew 7.02 lakh passengers, capturing 5.3% of the market, while Akasa Air transported 5.90 lakh passengers, holding a 4.4% share.

Akasa Air notably achieved the highest on-time performance among major carriers at Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad airports, with 79.5% punctuality. In contrast, SpiceJet recorded the lowest OTP at 46.1% among the seven major airlines tracked by DGCA.

(With inputs from PTI)