India's domestic passenger traffic up 23.2% in August: IATA

Global airlines' industry body International Air Transport Association (IATA) on Thursday said that with a rise of 23.2 per cent, India's domestic passenger traffic increased at the fastest pace amongst the major aviation markets in the world.

IATA pointed out that for August, India's domestic revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) and available seat kilometres (ASK) grew at the fastest pace amongst the major aviation markets such as Australia, Brazil, China, Japan, the Russian Federation and the US.

According to the global airlines association's August traffic results, India's domestic RPK -- a gauge that measures actual passenger traffic -- rose by 23.2 per cent in the month under review, compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.

Data furnished by the IATA disclosed that India's domestic passenger traffic growth was followed by that of China at 12 per cent, Japan at 1.9 per cent, Australia at 1.2 per cent and the US at 1.00 per cent.

However, Brazil reported a decline in their domestic passenger traffic at 6.3 per cent, followed by the Russian Federation at 2.7 per cent.

Similarly, India's domestic ASK -- which measures available passenger capacity - surged by 18.4 per cent during last month, followed by that of China at 10.5 per cent, the US at 3.7 per cent and Australia at 0.9 per cent.

"All markets reported demand increases with the exception of Brazil and Russia, with India and China reporting double-digit rises," IATA said in its global passenger traffic data for August.

For the month under review, the association said that the global RPK in August had risen by 4.6 per cent, while the ASK climbed by 5.8 per cent.

"Growth in passenger demand dipped to 4.6 per cent. While that's disappointing compared to the previous month's performance, it is still healthy growth," said Alexandre de Juniac, Director General and Chief Executive, IATA.

"And although terrorist attacks in Europe have dampened demand, the impact is ebbing."

Further, the data for August revealed that the demand for global domestic traffic rose by 4.7 per cent, against the international demand growth of 4.3 per cent.

"Lower airfares are a major factor sustaining demand for air travel. And airline profitability is stronger than ever as a result of a better industry structure and efficiency gains," said de Juniac.

"The industry has improved resilience along with its profitability. That will be critical to responding quickly should the business environment change."

--IANS

ppg-rv/vm