Domestic air traffic rises to 12.9 million YoY in July, up 7.3%: DGCA

Airlines in India transported 12.987 million passengers in July 2024, data released by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday shows. The numbers mark a growth of over 7.3 per cent year on year.

There has been a 4.7 per cent surge in numbers compared to 2023, too, recorded for the period of January to June.

“Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-July 2024 were 923.35 lakh as against 881.94 lakh during the corresponding period of the previous year thereby registering an annual growth of 4.7 per cent, and monthly growth of 7.33 per cent,” the DGCA report says.

The July 2024 air traffic numbers that India recorded are, however, lesser compared to the month-ago period. June 2024 had seen domestic airlines ferrying 13.206 million passengers.

DELAYS, CANCELLATIONS, COMPLAINTS

Flight delays affected 3,20,302 passengers in the month of July 2024 and airline companies had to pay around Rs 341.05 lakh as compensation, DGCA says. The DGCA data also reveals that 1,114 passengers were barred from boarding flights and a total of Rs 11.271 million was given by carriers as compensation and facilities to customers.

While on cancellation procedures, 1,54,770 passengers were affected by cancellation of flights. Carriers doled out Rs 110.59 lakh as compensation for cancelled flights. The overall cancellation rate of domestic carriers was 1.9 per cent in July 2024.

“During July 2024, a total of 1,097 passenger-related complaints had been received by the scheduled domestic airlines. The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried for the month of July 2024 has been around 0.84,” the DGCA data reveals.

INDIGO FLIES HIGH

IndiGo continues to be India’s top domestic airline with a market share that increased to 62 per cent in July 2024, according to the DGCA report. Vistara was another airline that saw a rise in its domestic share, to 10 per cent.

The share of Air India, on the other hand, fell to 14.3 per cent, the DGCA report says. The market share of Akasa Air and AIX Connect dropped to 4.7 per cent and 4.5 per cent respectively. While SpiceJet witnessed its share go down to 3.1 per cent, Alliance Air’s market share declined to 0.9 per cent.