India’s domestic air traffic experienced significant growth in June, marking the fourth consecutive month of surpassing pre-Covid levels. According to data released by the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), domestic airlines carried 1.24 crore passengers in June, reflecting an 18.8 per cent increase, compared to the same month last year. However, there was a slight decline of 5.5 per cent, compared to May, when 1.32 crore passengers were carried.
During this period, IndiGo, India’s largest airline, further strengthened its market share, reaching 63.2 per cent in June. This marked the second consecutive month of a rise in market share for IndiGo following the cessation of operations by GoFirst on May 2. IndiGo’s market share saw consistent growth over the past months, with increase of 390 basis points in May, 70 basis points in April, 90 basis points in March, and 130 basis points in February. In June, IndiGo flew 78.93 lakh passengers.
Air India maintained its position as the second-largest domestic carrier with a market share of 9.7 per cent, serving 12.13 lakh passengers in June. The grounding of GoFirst contributed to Air India’s consecutive monthly increase in market share for May and June. In contrast, Air India experienced a decline in market share from 9.2 per cent in January to 8.6 per cent in April, with a gradual decrease of 20-30 basis points each month.
Vistara witnessed a decrease in market share by 90 basis points to 8.1 per cent in June, flying 10.11 lakh passengers. AirAsia India, part of Tata Group, rose to the fourth spot in terms of market share, reaching 8 per cent, and serving 10.04 lakh passengers. Akasa Air, a new entrant in the market, surpassed SpiceJet in terms of market share, carrying 6.18 lakh passengers and garnering a market share of 4.9 per cent. SpiceJet, facing operational challenges due to financial constraints, experienced a decline of 100 basis points in market share for June. This decline has been consistent for the past 13 months.
The passenger load factor in June was 93.6 per cent for SpiceJet, 93.1 per cent for Vistara, 90.9 per cent for IndiGo, 88.2 per cent for Air India and 91.8 per cent for AirAsia India. Akasa Air maintained a consistent passenger load factor of 91.1 percent, reflecting its strong performance in its 11th month of operations.
Complaints
In terms of customer complaints, 344 complaints were received in June, translating to approximately 0.28 complaints per 10,000 passengers carried. Vistara achieved the best on-time performance in June, with an on-time rate of 88.3 per cent at four major airports.