Despite a fall in demand among domestic air travellers in December, the number of passengers flown by domestic airlines during the calendar year touched an all-time high of over 6 crore.

The latest data collated by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation show that in December, domestic air traffic growth was in single digits. Incidentally, passenger demand for domestic travel has been moving southwards since July last year.

The data show a growth in demand for all the domestic scheduled airlines in the range of 6-8 per cent, while capacity addition was in the range of 10-12 per cent.

With capacity outstripping demand, airlines were forced to sell tickets at lower prices that, in turn, affected their yields.

Various analysts estimate that airlines are incurring an average loss of about Rs 900 a seat. The result can be seen in the financial performance of all the three listed airlines, Jet, Kingfisher and SpiceJet.

Jet posted Rs 101.2 crore loss in the quarter-ended December . Kingfisher and SpiceJet which posted losses earlier are yet to declare the result for the third quarter.

While IndiGo was steady in terms of market share, Kingfisher suffered the most.

With schedules disrupted and flights slashed, the airline saw its market share fall from a high of 20 per cent in April to a little over 12 per cent in December.

IndiGo also reported the best record in terms of seat load factors with load factors of 90 per cent. It means on an average 90 per cent seats were filled on its flights.

Air India was at the bottom with a 77.3 per cent seat load factor.

>Shishir.s@thehindu.co.in

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