India's domestic air passenger traffic grew more than six times of the US' domestic travel demand in March, according to International Air Transport Association (IATA).
The IATA passenger traffic data, released today, for the month of March 2016 shows a growth of 27.4 per cent in India which is over six times more than the growth of the second highest market--the US at 4.1 per cent.
Globally, the overall domestic demand rose 3.7 per cent in March this year compared to March 2015, driven primarily by performance in the two largest markets, the US--which accounts for two of every five domestic passengers--and China, it said.
However, India accounted for only 1.2 per cent in the over all global domestic traffic.
According to IATA, March performance shows a moderate slowdown on the year-on-year growth rates recorded in January (7.2 per cent) and February (8.6 per cent) even after adjusting for the leap-year impact in February.
Demand for international traffic grew significantly more quickly (6.2 per cent) than that for domestic travel, it said.
"While in line with long-term trends, demand growth in March represented a slow-down compared to January and February. It is premature to say whether this marks the end of the recent very strong results," IATA Director General and Chief Executive Officer Tony Tyler said.
IATA expects further stimulus in the form of network expansion and declines in travel costs, he said, adding however, the wider economic backdrop remains subdued.
Although India has been growing constantly, the difference between the two markets is significantly vast for the month of March 2016.
Growth in the India's domestic market is being propelled by the comparatively strong economic backdrop as well as sizable increase in services, it said.
According to IATA, the average flight frequencies within India are expected to go up by 11.5 per cent year-on-year in this year.
IATA also said India's annual domestic revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) growth rate has now been in double digits for 19 consecutive months.
The combination of such rapid growth in India and slower (even negative) growth in other similarly-sized domestic markets has seen India overtake the others in terms of seasonally adjusted domestic RPKs over the past year or so, most recently Brazil, which it surpassed in March, it said.
