Domestic air traffic logs nearly 25 pc growth: DGCA

Domestic air traffic logged a robust of nearly 25 per cent growth in November with 11 Indian carriers together flying 7.32 million passengers as compared to 5.82 million passengers in the same period last year, driven by the demand in the tourist season.
Domestic air traffic grew by 24.65 per cent in the month of November, according to DGCA monthly traffic data.
However, the growth during the January-November period stood at 20.41 per cent for flying 73.38 million passengers as against 60.94 million passengers transported by the domestic carriers in the same period of 2014, the data said.
In the month of November, budget carrier IndiGo lost market share by a few notches despite carrying more number of passengers and continued recording the highest load factor.

According to the data, IndiGo carried 25.98 lakh passengers in the reporting month against 25.90 lakh passengers flown by it in October 2015. The airline's market share, however, dropped by 1.3 per cent to 35.5 per cent in November.
The seat factor during the reporting period was almost equal compared to the previous month primarily due to the ongoing tourist season, DGCA said.

National carrier Air India during this period has flown one lakh passengers more at 11.89 lakh with a market share of 16.2 per cent against 15.5 per cent in the previous month.
Global Airlines body International Air Transport Association (IATA) had forecast that India would unseat the UK to become world's third largest aviation market by 2026.

Besides, the IATA expects India's air passenger traffic to grow to 378 million passengers by 2034 with 275 million new passengers likely to be added during this period.
India will be among the five fastest-increasing markets, after China and the US, in terms of additional passengers per year over the forecast period with 275 million new passengers among the total of 378 million flyers during the period, IATA had said in its forecast.