Airlines Carry Record 12.9 Million Passengers In April: DGCA

Air passenger traffic for the month was 22% higher than the same period a year ago but was around 0.04% lower than the traffic levels seen in the preceding month of March, the data showed.

During the month, Go First was the least punctual airline with 58.3% of its flights departing late, as per the data. The airline on May 2 filed for insolvency and flights have been cancelled since May 3.

Akasa Air, India’s youngest airline, posted the best performance in punctuality for the second consecutive month with an on-time performance of 94%, followed by Air India at 91.1%, IndiGo at 89.6%, and Vistara at 86.5%. At the fourth spot was Air Asia at 82.9%, followed by SpiceJet at 69.2%, and Alliance Air was at 67.9%.

Go First, which has announced suspension of flights till 26 May, had a passenger load factor or capacity utilisation of 91.2% in April as compared to 90.2% in March. This was the third largest capacity utilization among Indian carriers after SpiceJet and Vistara which recorded a passenger load factor of 92.2% and 92.1% respectively. Go First’s high loads would be on account of merger of flights.

IndiGo, India's largest airline, secured a passenger load factor of 87.4% as compared to 84% earlier, Air India was also able to improve the capacity utilisation to 87.9% from 85.1%. Similarly, Akasa Air posted a passenger load factor of 84.9% from 73.6% earlier.

IndiGo, the low-cost carrier with a fleet of over 300 aircraft, attained a market share of 57.5%, followed by Vistara at 8.7%, Air India at 8.6%, AirAsia at 7.6%, Go First at 6.4%, SpiceJet at 5.8%, and Akasa Air secured 4% share.