Propelled by summer bookings domestic air travel surges by 18.35 per cent: DGCA

NEW DELHI: Driven by the summer bookings, domestic air travel surged by a healthy 18.35 per cent in April over the same period last year, while budget carrier IndiGo continued its market domination with more than a third of the total traffic pie in the kitty.

All Indian carriers together ferried a total of 71.27 lakh passengers in May as compared to 60.22 lakh passengers during May 2014, according to Directorate General of Civil Aviation ( DGCA) data for the month.

During May, another budget airline SpiceJet clocked the highest seat factor at 93.1 per cent helped by a series of low-fare schemes, announced by the carrier in the previous month.

In terms of number of passengers, while IndiGo transported 27.69 lakh, the number of passengers flown by Jet Airways during the reporting month stood at 13.01 lakh.

National carrier Air India's share in the total passenger traffic stood at 15.8 per cent as it ferried 11.8 passengers in the month.

The two new airlines-- AirAsia India and Vistara-- transported less than one lakh passengers in the month at 0.94 lakh and 0.93 lakh passengers respectively.

Air Costa transported 0.61 lakh passengers while Air Pegasus 0.06 lakh.

IndiGo also recorded a high load factor of 91.9 per cent, followed by GoAir 89.4 per cent, AirAsia India 81.4 per cent and Air Costa 81.2 per cent.

Jet Airways' load factor during May stood at 81.1 per cent while that of Air India at 80.4 per cent.

The seat factor of the domestic airline rose over the previous month primarily due to the onset of tourist season, the DGCA said.