Festive season perks up air traffic 13% in October

The number of people travelling by domestic airlines grew by over 13% in October, as high demand during holiday season arrested a five-month downward streak, with low-cost carrier IndiGo retaining its position as the market leader.

The total number of passengers carried by scheduled domestic airlines grew to 45.55 lakh in October, from 40.18 lakh in previous month, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a release.

IndiGo carried the largest 12.66 lakh passengers, commanding a market share of 27.8% in the month of October. Its market share has risen from 27.2% in the previous month, when it had carried 10.94 lakh passengers.

National carrier Air India also saw its market share growing from 19.3% in September to 20.8%, while its number of passengers rose from 7.75 lakh to 9.49 lakh.

Private carriers like Jet Airways and SpiceJet also saw increase in their market shares and numbers of passengers in October, which is considered a holiday season due to various festivals.

In terms of market share, IndiGo was followed by Jet Airways and JetLite combined (24.7%), Air India (20.8%), Spice Jet (19.1%) and GoAir (7.6%).

Crisis-ridden Kingfisher Airlines, which once had second largest market share but is currently grounded, did not fly any passenger in October. It had carried just 1.41 lakh passengers in September with a market share of 3.5%.