Domestic airlines flew 59.25 lakh passengers in October, registering a growth of 18.31 per cent over the 50.08 lakh passengers flown during the same period last year.
Data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) show that IndiGo remained the market leader, having flown 18.90 lakh passengers during the month. October is the tenth consecutive month this year that IndiGo has stayed the market leader among the eight scheduled domestic airlines. Air India, which carried 11.56 lakh passengers, took second spot, followed by SpiceJet, with 10.27 lakh passengers.
Jet Airways, at 9.73 lakh, takes the fourth spot. The number of passengers it has flown, however, would go up if the 2.42 lakh passengers flown by its low-cost arm, Jet Lite are added. Jet Airways, however, provides the DGCA with separate figures for passengers flown by it and JetLite. The numbers show that GoAir flew 5.04 lakh passengers, with Air Costa (0.67 lakh) and Air Asia (0.66 lakh) being neck to neck.
In October, the airlines paid ₹88.67 lakh as compensation to over 1,800 passengers who were denied boarding, apart from shelling out another ₹58.20 lakh in compensation and facilities to over 9,700 passengers affected by cancellations.