Witnessing a massive surge, domestic airlines in March 2024 carried 133.68 lakh passengers, marking a 3.7 percent increase compared to the previous year, data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) mentioned.
To understand the rise, domestic air traffic stood at 128.93 lakh in March 2023 and the count stood at 126.48 lakh in February 2024.
“Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January – March 2024 were 391.46 lakhs as against 375.04 lakhs during the corresponding period of the previous year thereby registering an annual growth of 4.38 percent and monthly growth of 3.68 percent,” DGCA mentioned.
Akasa Air tops on-time performance chart
In terms of On-Time Performance (OTP), Akasa Air topped the chart with 84.5 percent, AIX Connect recorded the second best OTP with 83 percent, IndiGo (81.3 percent), Vistara (76.6 percent), Air India (71.9 percent), and SpiceJet (63.6 percent). Alliance Air recorded the lowest OTP at 48.6 percent, as per data from DGCA.
Notably, OTP calculations are based on operations at four metro airports viz Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Mumbai.
Meanwhile, country’s largest carrier IndiGo’s market share climbed to 60.5 percent in March, with Air India also witnessing an uptick to 13.1 percent. Vistara’s share decreased to 9.6 percent, while SpiceJet’s edged up to 5.3 percent.
However, Akasa Air and AIX Connect experienced slight declines, reaching 4.4 percent and 5.8 percent, respectively.
Over 2 lakh passengers affected by flight delay
Flight delays affected over 2 lakh passengers in March, with 23,675 facing cancellations and 943 denied boarding.
The regulatory body reported that from January to March 2024, domestic airlines carried 391.46 lakh passengers, a 4.38 percent increase from the same period the previous year, equating to a monthly growth rate of 3.68 percent.