The Indian aviation industry witnessed a strong y-o-y growth in passengers carried in March 2023, with a 51 per cent increase, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). During January-March 2023, domestic airlines carried 375.04 lakh passengers, a 51.70 per cent y-o-y growth and a 21.41 per cent monthly growth. The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for March was 0.28 per cent.
IndiGo remained the market leader with a 56.8 per cent share, followed by Air India at 8.8 per cent, Vistara at 8.7 per cent, and Go First at 6.9 per cent. Akasa, the newest airline, had a 3.3 per cent share in March after a 0.3 per cent increase. However, all airlines witnessed a dip in passenger load factor (PLF). IndiGo’s PLF declined 2 per cent to 84 per cent, Akasa’s PLF saw a 10 per cent dip to 73.1 per cent, Air India’s PLF dropped to 85.1 per cent, Vistara’s PLF decreased by 1 per cent, and SpiceJet’s PLF fell to 92.1 per cent.
Akasa had the highest OTP at 94.2 per cent, up from 87 per cent. It overtook IndiGo which had managed to grab the first position in February. IndiGo’s performance on time stood at 92 per cent in March, which was 88 per cent in Febraury.
Vistara’s too got better to 83 per cent, up from 79.3 per cent, Air India too witnessed an uptock of 2 per cent taking its OTP to 82.1 per cent, SpiceJet’s OTP stood to 63.6 per cent, which is up from 56 per cent. GoFirst is the only airline that witnessed a massive drop in its on time performance to 49 per cent from 54 per cent.
In March 2023, scheduled domestic airlines received a total of 347 passenger-related complaints, mainly due to flight problems and baggage. Approximately 99 per cent of these complaints have been addressed. Indiaone Air, Star Air, FlyBig, Alliance Air, and SpiceJet received the most complaints.
Indiaone Air, Star Air, FlyBig, Alliance Air, and IndiGo had the maximum number of cancellations, with an overall cancellation rate of 0.28 per cent for scheduled domestic airlines in March.