Average daily domestic traffic increased by 1.65 per cent month-on-month (M-o-M) to 408,906 in September, according to the Ministry of Civil Aviation's data reviewed by Business Standard. This small increase can be attributed to the lean travel season and the reduction of flights by Akasa Air.The peak travel season in India falls between October and December, and industry officials anticipate an upswing in both domestic and international passenger traffic in October.
But overall domestic demand remained high, with four out of six major carriers reporting load factors of over 90 per cent in September. Load factor refers to an aircraft's occupancy rate. Akasa Air, which cancelled a significant number of flights in September due to an abrupt exodus of 43 pilots, recorded a load factor of 90.3 per cent. AirAsia India recorded the lowest load factor in September at 82.45 percent.In September, average daily international traffic increased by only 0.7 per cent to 178,578.