Official data released on Friday revealed that domestic air traffic in February increased by 4.8 percent year-on-year to reach 126.48 lakh passengers. However, during the same period, more than 1.55 lakh passengers experienced flight delays. Air India’s market share saw a rise to 12.8 percent, up from 12.2 percent, while IndiGo’s share marginally decreased to 60.1 percent from 60.2 percent in January.
According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), domestic air traffic for February surged to 126.48 lakh compared to 120.69 lakh in the same period last year.
Nevertheless, the February figures fell short of the 1.31 crore reported in January.
DGCA reported, “Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January – February 2024 were 257.78 lakh, as against 246.11 lakh during the corresponding period of the previous year thereby registering an annual growth of 4.74 percent and monthly growth of 4.80 percent.”
Flight delays in February affected 1,55,387 passengers, with airlines spending Rs 222.11 lakh for facilitation. Additionally, 29,143 passengers faced cancellations, leading to airlines spending Rs 99.96 lakh for compensation and facilities.
Complaints from passengers amounted to 791 in February, with flight problems accounting for 37.8 percent, followed by baggage issues (19 percent), refunds (16.3 percent), and customer service (11.1 percent).
In terms of market share, SpiceJet’s share fell to 5.2 percent from 5.6 percent, while Vistara and Akasa Air maintained their shares at 9.9 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively.
AIX Connect retained a market share of 6.1 percent, Alliance Air stayed at 1 percent, and AirAsia India’s share remained unchanged at 6.1 percent.
Regarding On-Time Performance (OTP), Air India recorded 56.4 percent, SpiceJet 59.1 percent, Vistara 67.4 percent, IndiGo 72.7 percent, and Akasa Air 72.9 percent. AIX Connect achieved an OTP of 73.5 percent in February.
“The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for the month of February 2024 has been 0.90 percent,” DGCA stated.
Zoom had the highest cancellation rate at 7.69 percent, while Akasa Air had the lowest at 0.30 percent. Other cancellation rates included Fly Big (7.41 percent), Alliance Air (3.83 percent), Indiaone Air (3.18 percent), SpiceJet (1.54 percent), IndiGo (0.84 percent), AIX Connect (0.64 percent), Air India (0.62 percent), Star Air (0.60 percent), and Vistara (0.58 percent).
