Tag Archives: domestic passengers

Indian aviation sets new record with over 5 lakh domestic passengers in a day

In a historic milestone, India’s aviation sector carried 5,05,412 domestic passengers on November 17, 2024, across 3,173 flights—the highest-ever in a single day. This achievement marks a significant rise in air traffic, capping a two-week trend of peak passenger volumes:

November 8: 4.9 lakh passengers
November 9: 4.96 lakh passengers
November 14: 4.97 lakh passengers
November 15: 4.99 lakh passengers
November 16: 4.98 lakh passengers
Traffic Patterns Post-Diwali
The record-breaking numbers come after a relatively subdued October, as air travel gained momentum following Diwali. Unlike previous years, passenger traffic this season has shifted from Diwali-centric travel to post-Diwali journeys, driven by the start of the wedding season and festivities.

IndiGo, the country’s largest airline, had reported a loss in its Q2 FY25 results, citing yield normalisation after a prolonged high-yield environment. This surge in passenger numbers indicates a recovery in demand, moving away from school holiday travel to more event-driven journeys.

Flight Deployment and Capacity Adjustments
This month, airlines have operated an average of 3,161 daily flights—eight more than in October but fewer than the Diwali peak days. The merger of Vistara with Air India on November 12 also contributed to increased capacity, as some metro flights were upgraded to Boeing 787 Dreamliners. While the combined entity has canceled some international routes, the deployment of larger aircraft has temporarily increased seat availability on domestic sectors.

Industry Outlook
The record passenger numbers underscore the resilience of India’s aviation market, signaling strong recovery and demand in domestic travel. With wedding season traffic in full swing and capacity adjustments underway, the sector is poised for sustained growth in the coming months.

India’s domestic airlines carry 133.68 passengers in March

Domestic airlines carried 133.68 lakh passengers in March, an increase of nearly 3.7% on an annual basis, according to official data released on Monday.

In March 2023, domestic air traffic stood at 128.93 lakh and the count stood at 126.48 lakh in February this year.
In terms of On Time Performance (OTP), Akasa Air topped the list at 84.5%, followed by AIX Connect (83 per cent), IndiGo (81.3%), Vistara (76.6%), Air India (71.9%) and SpiceJet (63.6%).

Alliance Air’s OTP was the lowest at 48.6%, according to the data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

The OTP of scheduled domestic airlines is computed for four metro airports — Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Mumbai.

Meanwhile, IndiGo’s market share rose to 60.5% in March while that of Air India increased to 13.1%.

The market share of Vistara dropped to 9.6% whereas that of SpiceJet inched up to 5.3%.

However, Akasa Air’s market share slipped marginally to 4.4% and AIX Connect’s declined to 5.8%.

In March, more than 2 lakh passengers were affected by flight delays while cancellations impacted 23,675 passengers.

As many as 943 passengers were denied boarding.

“Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January – March 2024 were 391.46 lakhs as against 375.04 lakhs during the corresponding period of the previous year thereby registering an annual growth of 4.38% and monthly growth of 3.68%,” the regulator said.

(Source: PTI)

Noida’s Jewar Airport to be ready by year end: Scindia

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has said the international airport at Jewar, Noida, will be ready for operations by the end of this year.

Scindia also said in Lok Sabha that India is now the fifth-largest aviation market in the world with regard to both domestic and international passengers, and by 2030, it will become the third-largest market in the world.

“Uttar Pradesh had six airports. After the Modi government came to power, we have built four more airports in the state and soon, five more airports will be ready. Jewar airport will also be ready for operations by the end of this year. So by the end of this year, UP will have 16 airports,” he said.

The Noida airport, coming up in the Jewar area of Gautam Buddh Nagar district adjoining Delhi is expected to serve 65 lakh passengers (per year) initially, according to an estimate.

This figure is expected to rise to seven crore passengers per year by 2042-43.

Scindia said the country had just 74 airports before 2014 and now the number has gone up to 149.

The number of passengers has also increased manifold — from one crore to 14.5 crore during the pre-Covid era and 15.20 crore in 2023. The number of domestic passengers in the country will reach 30 crore in a few years, he said. (Source: PTI)

 

New regional airline ‘Fly91’ to take wings with initial investment of INR 200cr

Convergent Finance LLP (Convergent), in collaboration with Manoj Chacko (WNS Global Services), will soon launch ‘Fly91’, a pure-play domestic regional airline. The initial investment into the venture will be INR 200 crore, reports The Federal.

Harsha Raghavan, Managing Partner at Convergent Finance, will be Fly91’s Chairman and Chacko will be the airline’s CEO.

Chacko has over three decades of experience spanning the airline, travel, and allied industries. He has held executive positions at several companies, including WNS Global Services, SOTC Travel, Kingfisher Airlines, and Emirates Airlines.

During his stint at Kingfisher, he helped the airline become India’s second-largest airline by market share by building out a strong pan-India network and enhancing connectivity into regional markets in Tier-II & III cities. Other members of the management team have experience at various aviation companies including Jet Airways, Gulf Air, SpiceJet, Air Asia, and Vistara, a press statement from Convergent Finance LLP said.

Fly91 will operate in the short-haul segment, in which flights last between 45 and 90 minutes. The airline will serve India’s regional airports, from where about 30% of India’s domestic passengers originate. This segment has so far been underserved by existing airlines.

Fly91 said it will start operations from Goa, its first base, and will aim to connect underserved airports in line with the Government of India’s Regional Connectivity Scheme.

The company that owns Fly91, Just UDO Aviation Private Limited, has applied for a ‘No Objection Certificate’ and for requisite security clearances from the Ministry of Civil Aviation. Fly91 aims to begin operations by December 2023.

Chacko said, “We are delighted to have Convergent as a co-founding partner as Fly91 begins its journey. Harsha and the Convergent team’s operational expertise and deep networks will be invaluable as we build Fly91 to be India’s leading pure-play regional airline.”

“The funds we raise will ensure that we are well capitalised and that we can set up the airline for long-term success”, he added.

Raghavan said, “The India growth story goes beyond five metros, with nearly 50 cities having a population of more than one million. Manoj’s vision to serve these cities and his decades of experience in India’s airline and travel sectors makes him the kind of passionate entrepreneur whose idea we can back with our capital.”

“As a co-founding partner, Convergent will work with Fly91 on matters such as operations, capital allocation, and long-term business strategy,” he stated.

Convergent Finance LLP is an investment management and advisory partnership at the forefront of bringing together Ideas, Capital, and passionate Entrepreneurs.

The Convergent investment process also involves identifying proprietary platform and bolt-on opportunities, speed of execution, and a relentless focus on performance improvement.

The Convergent value investing approach believes in paying fair and reasonable valuations through bilaterally negotiated transactions.

UDO Aviation Private Limited owns and will operate Fly91. (Source: The Federal)

1.13 lakh domestic air passengers in June, 47% higher than in May: DGCA

Around 31.13 lakh domestic passengers travelled by air in June, 47 per cent higher than the 21.15 lakh who travelled in May, the country’s aviation regulator said Monday, reports PTI.

According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), 57.25 lakh people had travelled within the country by air in April.

The drop in domestic air traffic in May was due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that had badly hit the country and its aviation sector.

While IndiGo carried 17.02 lakh passengers in June, a 54.7 per cent share of the domestic market, SpiceJet flew 2.81 lakh passengers, accounting for a nine per cent share of the market, according to the data shared by the DGCA.

Air India, GO FIRST (previously known as GoAir), Vistara and AirAsia India carried 5.14 lakh, 2.58 lakh, 2.25 lakh and 1.07 lakh passengers, respectively in June, the data showed.

The occupancy rate or the load factor of the six major Indian airlines was between 54.4 per cent and 71 per cent in June, it stated.

The occupancy rate at SpiceJet was 71 per cent in June, the DGCA noted.

The occupancy rates for IndiGo, Vistara, GO FIRST, Air India and AirAsia India were 62.7 per cent, 60 per cent, 70.9 per cent, 58.4 per cent and 54.4 per cent, respectively, it added.

The aviation sector has been significantly impacted due to the travel restrictions imposed in India and other countries in view of the pandemic.

India resumed domestic passenger flights on May 25 last year after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Indian airlines are allowed to operate a maximum of 65 per cent of their pre-pandemic domestic flights.

The DGCA data mentioned that in June, IndiGo had the best on-time performance of 98.5 per cent at four metro airports—Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

AirAsia India and SpiceJet were at the second and third positions at these four airports in June with 98.2 per cent and 96.7 per cent on-time performance respectively, the DGCA said.

All airlines in India have opted for cost-reducing measures such as pay cuts, leave without pay and layoffs in order to tide over the crisis. (Source: PTI)

 

Airlines in India to reach 80% of pre-Covid capacity by Q3: Morgan Stalney

Indian aviation industry will bounce back to 80% of pre-Covid capacity during October-December 2021 period as about 9.2 crore domestic passengers are expected to take to the skies during financial year (FY22) and 14.4 crore during FY23, Morgan Stalney Research said in a recent report on the aviation sector. “Overall, we estimate 9.2 crore domestic passengers in India in FY22 against 14.1 crore in FY20,” the report said, assuming that there are no further impact from the pandemic, reports Rhik Kundu for Hindustan Times.

Air traffic picked after lockdown was lifted in May 2020, and rose every month till March 2021 before the second wave of Covid-19 hit the country. During May, the government set a cap stating that India will be able to sell seats up to 50% of their total capacity on domestic flights citing high number of Covid-19 infections and as travel demand fell during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Air passenger traffic in India rose for the sixth straight week during the week ending on July 10 as a fall in Covid-19 cases and easing of curbs by most states led more people to take to the skies.

The average number of daily fliers rose to 150,000 for the week ended July 10, from 135,000 fliers a week before, brokerage firm ICICI Securities said in a report. The average number of departures rose to 1,486 during the week, from 1,408 in the previous week. The number of fliers per departure was improved to 100 from 95 during the previous week. “As vaccination rollouts continue across the world, key markets are seeing a sharp rebound in domestic air travel,” Morgan Stanley said in the report. “With the second wave appearing to ebb, airline passenger traffic is again seeing a modest recovery.

Over the past week, daily airline passenger traffic reached an average of about 140,000, implying about 36% of pre-Covid traffic (about 175,000 passengers on July 4, 2021, implying about 44% of pre-Covid levels),” the report said. “We believe that there is a significant pent-up leisure travel demand in the system and swift vaccination drive can aid the return of such demand,” it added. (Source: Hindustan Times)