New Delhi: Domestic air passenger traffic fell 6.49 per cent in September compared with the previous month, with scheduled domestic airlines carrying 118.23 lakh passengers against 126.43 lakh in August, according to data from the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
The Air India Group, comprising Air India and Air India Express, carried 31.65 lakh passengers, taking its combined market share to 26.8 per cent.
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Cumulative domestic air traffic during January-September stood at 1,223.53 lakh passengers, down 0.82 per cent from 1,233.70 lakh recorded during the corresponding period last year. IndiGo remained the country’s largest domestic carrier, carrying 77.30 lakh passengers in September and accounting for 65.4 per cent of the market. The Air India Group, comprising Air India and Air India Express, carried 31.65 lakh passengers, taking its combined market share to 26.8 per cent. Akasa Air accounted for 5.6 per cent of the market, while SpiceJet’s share stood at 0.6 per cent. The overall flight cancellation rate stood at 1.15 per cent in September. SpiceJet reported the highest rate at 20.29 per cent, followed by IndiGo at 15.56 per cent. The cancellation rate for the Air India Group was 1.76 per cent, while IndiGo reported 0.41 per cent and Akasa Air 0.05 per cent. Technical issues accounted for 37.8 per cent of cancellations, followed by operational reasons at 31.2 per cent and weather at 12.1 per cent. Miscellaneous reasons accounted for 18.1 per cent of cancellations, while commercial reasons made up 0.8 per cent. Around 1.19 per cent of flights across the airlines covered in the report were delayed by more than two hours. SpiceJet reported the highest proportion of such delays at 39.36 per cent, followed by Alliance Air at 5.96 per cent. The figure for the Air India Group was 1.24 per cent, while IndiGo reported 0.50 per cent and Akasa Air 0.35 per cent. Reactionary delays, including delays caused by the late arrival of an aircraft from an earlier flight, accounted for 65 per cent of reported delays. Air traffic control restrictions accounted for 9 per cent, operational reasons 7 per cent and technical issues 6 per cent. IndiGo recorded an on-time performance (OTP) of 91.1 per cent at the 10 major airports covered in the report. Akasa Air followed closely at 90.8 per cent. The Air India Group recorded an OTP of 81.7 per cent, while Alliance Air reported 75 per cent. SpiceJet’s OTP stood at 16.6 per cent. Among airports, Chennai recorded the highest on-time performance at 95.3 per cent, followed by Hyderabad at 92.2 per cent. Ahmedabad and Bengaluru each recorded 91.2 per cent, while Delhi’s OTP stood at 82.7 per cent. Scheduled domestic airlines received 2,466 passenger complaints in September, equivalent to 2.09 complaints per 10,000 passengers. The Air India Group accounted for the highest number of complaints at 987, followed by IndiGo with 793 and Alliance Air with 371. However, Alliance Air recorded the highest complaint rate, at 75.1 complaints per 10,000 passengers. SpiceJet reported 14.3, the Air India Group 3.1 and IndiGo 1.0 complaints per 10,000 passengers. Flight-related problems accounted for 29.6 per cent of complaints, followed by baggage-related issues at 22.7 per cent and refunds at 20.8 per cent. Of the 2,466 complaints, 2,448 had been addressed, while 18 remained pending. The data states 108,783 passengers were affected by flight delays exceeding two hours, and 78,207 were affected by cancellations. Another 471 passengers were affected by denied boarding. Airlines spent Rs 286.96 lakh on facilitation for passengers affected by delays of more than two hours. A further Rs 42.79 lakh was reported as compensation and facilities for passengers affected by cancellations.
