Domestic air passenger traffic rose 6% in August over July: DGCA

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, as many as 28.32 lakh domestic passengers travelled by domestic airlines in August 2020 a 76 per cent decline compared to August 2019, according to the data released by the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

New Delhi: The DGCA data showed that private airline SpiceJet had the maximum passenger load with occupancy rate of 76.0 per cent in August. Vistara had a load of 68.3 per cent, IndiGo had 65.6 per cent and Air India had a passenger load of 58.6 per cent.

Among all airlines, Indigo had the highest market share, accounting for 49.8 per cent of the passengers carried from January to August this year, followed by SpiceJet with 15.9 per cent and state-owned Air India with 11.4 per cent, DGCA data showed.

According to the July data released by DGCA, passengers ferried by domestic airlines during July stood at 21.07 lakh from 1.19 crore for the corresponding period of the previous year.

This shows that growth of 34.4 per cent month-on-month was higher than the 6.1 per cent recorded in July. In September first week, the government had allowed domestic airlines to operate at 60 per cent of their pre-COVID capacity, according to an official order.

India resumed domestic passenger flights on May 25 after a gap of two months amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Since June 27, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has allowed domestic airlines to operate at 45 per cent capacity. Before that, domestic flights were allowed to operate with only one-third capacity.