Domestic air passenger traffic fell by 65% in September, says DGCA

According to DGCA data, IndiGo had the highest market share with 50.5 per cent of the passengers during January to September 2020, followed by SpiceJet with 15.6 per cent and state-owned Air India with 11.2 per cent.

New Delhi: A total of 39.43 lakh domestic passengers travelled by air in September 2020, 65.8 per cent lower than the corresponding period last year, aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Wednesday.

Minister of Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri said on October 8 that airlines may be permitted to operate maximum 75 per cent of their pre-COVID scheduled domestic flights. It is permitted only if the passenger numbers continue to be optimum in the next seven to ten days.

The DGCA data showed that private airline SpiceJet had the maximum passenger load factor of 73 per cent in September. The seat capacity utilisation of the airline is measured as the passenger load factor. Star Air, Vistara, IndiGo had 70.5 per cent, 66.7 per cent and 65.4 per cent of passengers respectively.

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Among all the airlines, IndiGo accounted the highest market share with 50.5 per cent of the passengers carried from January to September this year, followed by SpiceJet with 15.6 per cent and state-owned Air India with 11.2 per cent, the DGCA data showed.

According to the data released by the DGCA on August, passengers ferried by domestic airlines during the month stood at 28.32 lakh, 33 per cent higher than July. On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the traffic fell 76 per cent.

The authorities 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 had allowed domestic airlines to operate with 45 per cent capacity. Earlier, domestic flights were allowed to operate with only one-third capacity.