Airlines see passenger traffic rise by a quarter

New Delhi: Domestic airlines carried almost 25% more passengers in the three months ended 30 September, bringing a measure of relief for carriers hurting from losses that mounted in the face of an economic downturn.
Airlines carried around 10.73 million passengers in July-September, compared with 8.61 million in the same period last year, according to data released by Directorate General of Civil Aviation, or DGCA. “For the first time in last one-and-a-half years, the (quarterly) domestic passenger traffic has shown positive growth,” DGCA said.
Passenger traffic has risen year-on-year since June after falling steadily for many months as slowing economic growth deterred air travel. Month-wise, airlines flew 3.5 million passengers in September, compared with August’s 3.63 million and 3.59 million in July.
According to data for September, Jet Airways (India) Ltd, together with its subsidary JetLite, lost market share in a month when its operations were disrupted by a week-long pilots’ strike. Its market share slipped 2.9 percentage points to 23.5%.
Gaining traction were other airlines such as Kingfisher Airlines Ltd with a 23.3% market share followed by Air India at 17.5%, IndiGo at 14.3%, SpiceJet at 13.2% and GoAir at 5.8%. Paramount Airways stayed put at 2%.
Air India’s market share improved marginally over August despite a pilots’ strike that disrupted several of its flights.
15/10/09 Tarun Shukla/Livemint

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Oct 2009