Domestic air traffic increases 2.4% YOY in April; slight fall from March

India's domestic air traffic increased 2.4% in April as against the same month last year. However, the traffic fell down slightly from March 2024. According to data released by the Directorate General of civil aviation (DGCA), in April the figure climbed to 132 lakh passengers carried. In March, the reading stood at 133.68 lakh passengers.

Market share

As per DGCA, the market share of India's largest airline Indigo rose 10 basis points in April. In January 2024, it shed 160 basis points. At present, Indigo has a total market share of 60.6% flying 80 lakh passengers in April.

Indigo was followed by Air India which garnered a market share of 14.2%, flying 18.8 lakh passengers in April. Vistara's market share in April fell 40 basis points to 9.2 percent, the airline flew 12.18 lakh passengers in April.

The market share of AIX Connect also fell 40 basis points to 4.4 percent, as the carrier served 5.8 lakh passengers in April. While SpiceJet's market share fell 60 basis points in April, Akasa Air maintained its market share of 4.4%.

On-time performance

Akasa Air was the most punctual airline operating in India for the second straight month in a row after overtaking AIX Connect in March. At the four metro airports its on-time performance was at 89.2%. AIX Connect and Vistara were second and third, followed by IndiGo.

Overall on-time performance of airlines rose in March after heavy fog forced flight delays throughout December, January, and February, but dipped again in April due to protests across the Tata Group airlines.

Cancellation

As per DGCA, the overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for April 2024 stood at 0.80 percent, around 17 basis points higher than the 0.63% in March but lower than the 0.9% seen in February and 3.67% seen in January.

Also watch: Indian airlines share to surge to 50% in international passenger traffic by FY28: CRISIL