New Delhi: An estimated 13.1 million people travelled by air in India in January, a 4.7% increase from the previous year, according to data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Despite this growth, passenger numbers dropped from December’s record high of 13.8 million.
The decline was likely the result of frequent flight cancellations due to dense fog throughout January, with weather conditions responsible for about 83% of the cancellations.
IndiGo, India’s largest airline, reported a 5% cancellation rate last month, a significant rise from 2% a year ago, leading to over 3,000 flight cancellations. SpiceJet had a 3.5% cancellation rate, Air India 2%, Vistara 0.86%, and Akasa Air 0.17%.
Air travel has rebounded from its pandemic lows, with an estimated 152 million passengers flying in 2023. This figure not only surpasses the 144.2 million passengers in 2019 but also represents a 23% year-on-year increase, as per provisional data.
Despite the recovery, the aviation sector faces challenges, including high aviation turbine fuel costs and the Indian rupee’s depreciation against the dollar, as noted by Icra Ltd. These factors significantly impact airlines’ expenses.
IndiGo dominated the market share in January with 60.2%, followed by Air India (12.2%), Vistara (9.9%), AIX Connect, the merged entity of Air India express and AirAsia India, (6.1%), SpiceJet (5.5%), and Akasa Air (4.5%).
Adverse weather also impacted airlines’ punctuality. India’s youngest airline, Akasa Air, was the most punctual last month with an on-time performance of 71.8%, followed by Vistara (67.8%) and IndiGo (60.3%). AIX Connect, Air India, and SpiceJet lagged behind with lower punctuality rates. The on-time performance is measured by the regulator at four metro airports of Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Mumbai.
The low on-time performance affected numerous passengers, with most major airlines operating at around 90% capacity utilization. Vistara topped the list with a passenger load factor (PLF) of 94.2%, SpiceJet at 93.7%, Akasa Air at 92.4%, IndiGo at 88.4%, AIX Connect at 87.6%, and Air India at 87.3%.
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