New Delhi: Amid the rise in the second wave of Covid-19 infections and resultant travel curbs imposed by the states, domestic air passenger traffic fell by 63 per cent to around 21 lakh passengers from 57 lakh passengers in April, according to the data released by the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday.
The DGCA data showed that private airline SpiceJet had the maximum passenger load with an occupancy rate of 64.0 per cent in May. GoFirst had a load of 64.0 per cent, IndiGo had 51.2 per cent and Air Asia had a passenger load of 44.4 per cent. "During May 2021, a total of 338 passenger related complaints had been received by the scheduled domestic airlines. The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried for the month of May 2021 has been around 1.60," said the aviation regulator in its May report.
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As per the DGCA data, the major reasons for complaints were regarding the refund. Airlines received a total of 338 complaints, out of which 183 have been addressed. Among all airlines, Indigo had the highest market share, accounting for 55.3 per cent in May up from 53.9 per cent in April, followed by state-owned Air India with 20.3 per cent and SpiceJet with 9.4 per cent, DGCA data showed.
Domestic passenger traffic for the Indian aviation sector crossed the one lakh mark on Saturday after more than a month. According to the data released by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, 1,07,371 passengers travelled to their destinations in 1,124 flights on June 12 i.e. 36 per cent of pre-Covid departures and 25 per cent of pre-Covid passengers. On the next day, 1,05,478 passengers departed to their destinations in 1,114 flights.
Domestic passenger traffic had fallen to below the one lakh mark on May 3, as only 97,761 passengers flew across 1,306 flights, indicating lower demand as people remain averse to travelling due to the rise in the second wave of Covid-19 infections.
