10.5 mn domestic air passengers in June; 12.5% lower than May: DGCA

Around 1.05 crore domestic passengers travelled by air in June, approximately 12.5 per cent lower than the 1.2 crore who travelled in May, aviation regulator DGCA said on Friday.

Overall, 5.72 crore people travelled on domestic flights in January-June period of 2022, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stated in its monthly statement.

IndiGo -- India's largest carrier -- carried 59.83 lakh passengers in June, a 56.8 per cent share of the domestic market, it mentioned.

SpiceJet flew 10.02 lakh passengers and Go First flew 9.99 lakh passengers in June this year, according to the data shared by the DGCA.

Vistara, Air India, AirAsia India and Alliance Air carried 9.92 lakh, 7.83 lakh, 5.9 lakh, 1.2 lakh passengers, respectively, in June, the data showed.

The occupancy rate or load factor for SpiceJet was 84.1 per cent in June, the DGCA noted.

The occupancy rates for IndiGo, Vistara, Go First, Air India and AirAsia India were 78.6 per cent, 83.8 per cent, 78.7 per cent, 75.4 per cent and 75.8 per cent, respectively, in June 2022, it added.

During the last two years, the aviation sector has been significantly impacted due to travel restrictions imposed in India and other countries in view of the Covid pandemic.

The DGCA data mentioned that in June this year, AirAsia India had the best on-time performance of 89.8 per cent at four metro airports - Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

Vistara and IndiGo were at the second and third positions at these four airports in June with 86.4 per cent and 84.5 per cent on-time performance respectively, the DGCA said.

In a statement, Sunil Bhaskaran, MD & CEO, AirAsia India, said, "Our focus on maintaining impeccable operational standards has resulted in AirAsia India topping the DGCA charts in OTP again for the third time in a row."

"This recognition is a testimony to the results that can be achieved by leveraging technology and focussing on ensuring consistency while maintaining the highest levels of safety," he added.