Airlines flew 16.99% more domestic passengers in November: DGCA

NEW DELHI: Domestic air passengers during the month of November grew by about 16.99% with Indian carriers carrying 10.5 million during the month, shows passenger data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) today.
On the back of the increase in number of passengers travelling during the month, all scheduled carriers flew its planes with over 80% of their seats full. Gurgaon based SpiceJet continued to maintain its pole position on the load factor front by flying its planes 95.5% full followed by IndiGo, which flew its planes with 90.7% seats full. GoAir came close third by flying its planes with 90% seats full.

In terms of operating flights in time, Jet Airways performance was the worst among all carriers for the second consecutive month. While Jet operated 54.1% of its flights in time, SpiceJet topped the list by operating 81.9% of its flights in time. IndiGo was a close second by operating 80.4% of its flights on time followed by Air India that operated 69.3% flights in time.

Commenting on reporting highest load factors and on-time performance, Spicejet CMD Ajay Singh said: “I am delighted with SpiceJet’s exceptional operational performance that has seen us emerge as the country’s most punctual airline in November. Our on-time performance at 81.9% was the best of all airlines in India. SpiceJet also recorded the highest load factor for the 32nd month-in-a-row. The load factor at 95.5% is also the highest in SpiceJet’s history. This has set a new threshold in global aviation and we are proud of that," his statement read.

IndiGo remained the market leader, in terms of passenger carriage, by flying 39.4% of total passengers during the month. Jet Airways followed IndiGo in terms of market share by flying 17.5% of the total passengers flown during the month. The national carrier Air India is the third largest carrier in terms of market share by flying 13.6% of the total passenger flown during the month.