Domestic Air Passenger Traffic Rises 8% To 1.36 Crore In October, IndiGo's Dominance Intact

India's domestic air passenger traffic rose to 1.36 crore in October, higher by 8.08% as compared to 1.26 crore in the year-ago period, according to the data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Monday.

Sequentially, the domestic air passenger traffic has increased by 4.6% from 1.3 crore passengers in September.

Between January and October 2024, the count of domestic passengers rose to 13.21 crore. This marks a climb of 5.3% from an overall domestic air passenger traffic of 12.54 crore in the first 10 months of the last calendar year.

The dominance of IndiGo, the no-frills carrier with the highest market share, remained intact. Its market share increased to 63.3% in October from 63% in September. However, the airline's passenger load factor, or the occupancy rate, slipped marginally to 82.3% from 82.6%.

In absolute terms, IndiGo carried a total of 86.4 lakh passengers in October, as compared to 82.12 lakh passengers in the preceding month.

The market share of Air India, which merged Vistara into itself earlier this month, increased to 19.4% in October from 15.1% in September. The carrier's passenger load factor climbed to 80.8% from 80.1%.

The airline carried a total of 26.48 lakh passengers, significantly higher as compared to 19.69 lakh in the preceding month.

Akasa Air, a distant third among the major carriers, posted a marginal increase in market share to 4.5% from 4.4% last month. The airline's occupancy rate slipped marginally to 85.7% from 85.9%. The total number of passengers it carried increased to 6.16 lakh from 5.73 lakh.

SpiceJet's market share also increased in October, rising to 2.4% from 2% in the preceding month. The passenger load factor increased to 81% from 80.4%. In absolute terms, the cash-strapped airline carried 3.35 lakh passengers, as compared to 2.61 lakh in September.