The growth in India’s domestic air passenger traffic slowed to 2.4 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in April, the lowest level of YoY growth in 26 months, mainly due to the high base of last year when the domestic aviation sector made a full recovery from the pandemic, indicates the data from the country’s civil aviation regulator. A few other factors constraining capacity deployment and ramp-up by Indian carriers have also been adding to the downward pressure on passenger growth over the past few months.
The country’s total domestic air passenger pie expanded to 1.32 crore in April, up from 1.29 crore in the year-ago month, as per data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Sequentially, the domestic air passenger traffic in April was 1.3 per cent lower than March.
In March, the YoY growth in domestic passengers was 3.7 per cent, while in February, it was 4.8 per cent. The growth was 4.7 per cent in January, 8.3 per cent in December, 9.1 per cent in November, and 10.8 per cent in October, clearly indicating a downward trajectory.
Indian airlines, most notably IndiGo, have been forced to ground a sizable number of aircraft due to supply chain issues and engine problems, which is limiting the extent to which capacity can be expanded. Another carrier—SpiceJet—has been grappling with financial woes, which have evidently impaired its network and capacity expansion ability. In addition to the high base effect following the post-pandemic recovery, factors like these are seen as reasons for subdued growth rates over the past few months.
IndiGo, the country’s largest carrier, maintained its dominance with its domestic market share by passengers carried rising by 10 basis points sequentially to 60.6 per cent in April. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point. IndiGo carried a total of 80 lakh passengers in April, against 80.86 lakh in March.
The only other airline to record a sequential rise in market share in April was Air India. The Tata group airline’s market share in April was 14.2 per cent, up from 13.1 per cent in March. Air India’s domestic passenger traffic in April was 18.80 lakh, up from 17.47 lakh in March.
Other Tata group airlines—Air India Express (AIX Connect) and Vistara—saw their domestic market share decline by 40 basis points each. In all, the combined domestic market share of the three Tata group airlines rose by 30 basis points sequentially to 28.8 per cent in April.
Vistara’s domestic market share in April was 9.2 per cent, down from 9.6 per cent in March. The airline, which is in the process of being merged with group flagship Air India, carried 12.18 lakh domestic passengers in April, down from 12.84 lakh in March. A pilot shortage at Vistara in the first week of April, which led to numerous flights being cancelled and the airline being forced to curtail its schedule, likely had an impact on its passenger traffic as well as market share for the month.
Air India Express’s domestic market share contracted to 5.4 per cent in April from March’s 5.8 per cent. The budget airline ferried 7.17 lakh domestic passengers in April, against 7.70 lakh in March.
At 4.4 per cent, the domestic market share of fledgling airline Akasa Air was flat sequentially. The airline ferried 5.80 lakh domestic passengers in April against 5.90 lakh in March. SpiceJet saw its domestic market share decline to 4.7 per cent in April from 5.3 per cent in March, while passenger traffic fell to 6.17 lakh from 7.02 lakh.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
First uploaded on: 21-05-2024 at 18:53 IST
