India pipped China in air travel demand for January '15: IATA

Indian carriers in January clocked one of the highest average load factors on domestic flights among countries in the BRIC region, Australia, Japan and the US, according to data realised by the International Air Transport Association ( IATA).

Indian carriers got 84% loads closely following airlines in Brazil which clocked 84.6%. American carriers filled 79.3% of their planes on an average, Chinese airlines filled 77.6% of their planes, airlines in Australia got 76.2% occupancy on average.

Indian carriers, led by SpiceJet have been garnering high load factors with discounted fares. Starting December cash-strapped SpiceJet cut massive capacity which led to a decline in seats offered in the market and a rise in average occupancies for airlines.

For the year 2014, Indian carriers on an average filled 76.3% of their planes,lower than airlines in most regions.