The domestic airline traffic rose more than 4% annually in February, however, fewer people decided to travel via flights last month compared to January 2024 as the traffic dropped 3.7% on a month-on-month basis, data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) showed on March 15.
DGCA data also showed that domestic airlines flew 257.78 lakh air passengers between January - February 2024 as against 246.11 lakh during the corresponding period of the previous year.
IndiGo continued to be air passengers’ top choice in February even as its market share declined marginally to 60.1% from 60.2% in January. IndiGo lost market share after its On-Time Performance dropped to 43.7% on January 17, the lowest in the industry after the airline, and its operations were hit for two weeks due to fog-related disruptions in northern India.
Vistara's market share in February remained unchanged at 9.9% and the airline flew 12.55 lakh passengers in the month. Air India's market share rose in February to 12.8% from 12.2% last month. The market share of AIX Connect, which is also part of the Tata group-owned airlines, remained unchanged at 6.1%, as the carrier served 7.68 lakh passengers in February. Overall Tata Group's airline market share now stands at 28.8%
SpiceJet’s market share, however, marginally slipped to 5.2% from 5.6% in January. Akasa Air’s market share stood at 4.5%.
These numbers are from the month in which Vinay Dube, the founder and CEO of Akasa Air, stepped in to address rumours about a shortage of pilots. Numerous posts on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) claimed that Akasa Air's flights were cancelled on February 11 and 12 due to a shortage of pilots.
Meanwhile, SpiceJet earlier this week announced that it has finalised lease agreements for 10 aircraft to augment capacity to prepare for the upcoming summer schedule.
It must be noted that aviation consultancy firm CAPA Advisory had in November 2023 given guidance that close to 200 aircraft from India's operational fleet were expected to be grounded by the end of the 2023-24 fiscal.
In terms of punctuality, AIX Connect was the most punctual airline operating in India in February and overtook Akasa Air, as per the aviation regulator’s data. AIX Connect turned in an on-time performance of 73.5% at the four metro airports – New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai.
Akasa Air and IndiGo were second and third, followed by Vistara. Airlines' on-time performance rose in February after heavy fog forced flight delays throughout December and January.
(Edited by : Akanksha Upadhyay)
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