The domestic passenger traffic flown by Indian carriers in April this year exceeded the 1.43 crore mark, an 8.45 per cent increase over April last year despite adverse weather conditions affecting operations throughout the month, data published by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Wednesday indicated.
Domestic passengers transported by domestic airlines in January-April this year increased to 575.13 lakh, which is a 9.87 per cent rise over the corresponding figure of 523.46 lakh for the same period of last year.
Adverse weather conditions were a major reason for flight disruptions throughout April, and they were responsible for 38.8 per cent of the total cancellations in air tickets by travelers. This hit 20,840 travelers directly, due to which airlines lost Rs 41.69 lakh in compensation and services, an increase of 117 per cent month-over-month.
Apart from cancellations, delays also hit a huge number of passengers, with 96,350 being delayed in April alone, a 68 per cent increase from March. Up to 70 per cent of these passengers were struck by "reactionary" delays, mainly caused by the late arrival of aircraft from previous flights.
India's largest domestic carrier IndiGo, grew its passenger market share to 64.1 per cent in April from 64 per cent in March. The carrier also saw a rise in its passenger load factor to 86.9 per cent from 84.6 per cent, as per the DGCA data.
The Air India Group too gained market share, which increased to 27.2 per cent from 26.7 per cent during the month. The passenger load factor of the airline increased to 83.3 per cent from 80.6 per cent. Akasa Air's market share was also stable at 5 per cent. Debt-troubled SpiceJet posted a fall in market share to 2.6 per cent from 3.3 per cent but there, the airline posted a rise in its load factor to 86 per cent from 84.8 per cent.
Akasa Air had the highest passenger load factor with an increase to 93 per cent in April from 92.5 per cent in March.
Airline load factor is the proportion of the seats available on a flight that are occupied by revenue-paying passengers. It's one of the most important metrics that indicate the efficiency of an airline in using its capacity and a sign of its profitability.
As of April 2025, the scheduled domestic airlines had received a total of 910 passenger-related complaints. The proportion of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried during April 2025 has been approximately 0.64.
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