Air traffic rises 30.8% in Sept

Bangalore: Domestic passenger traffic continued its upward flight in September as scheduled airlines carried 8.37 lakh, or 30.8%, more fliers compared with the same month last year.
This is the fourth consecutive month when air traffic was higher than last year, indicating recovery of demand in the airline market.
Figures released by the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) on Thursday indicated passengers were returning to air travel. Total number of passengers flown by local carriers in September jumped to 35.56 lakh against 27.19 lakh in the same period last year.
The year-on-year (yoy) growth in passenger numbers for the first nine months of this year also increased 97 basis points (bps) to 319.79 lakh from 316.71 lakh last year.
Ankur Bhatia, managing director of Amadeus, said while low fares did give flight to passenger traffic in September, it was economic recovery and flush of liquidity that gave passenger numbers a bigger boost.
"It's not just fares, the overall improvement in economic and liquidity conditions in the market was spurring growth in domestic air travel. I expect traffic in this month (October), when the fares have firmed up considerably, to be higher," he said.
Since September is the leanest month of the year, there was a marginal drop of 3% in the number of fliers. Passenger traffic fell to 35.1 lakh from 36.3 lakh in August.
16/10/09 Praveena Sharma /Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Oct 2009