Domestic Passenger Traffic In April Rises 2.4% YoY

India's domestic air traffic in April increased by 2.4 per cent compared to the same month last year, reaching 132 lakh passengers, according to data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on May 21. However, this figure represents a slight decline from March 2024's total of 133.68 lakh passengers.

Akasa Air maintained its position as the most punctual airline in India for the second consecutive month, achieving an on-time performance of 89.2 per cent at major metro airports – New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Mumbai. This performance allowed Akasa Air to surpass AIX Connect, which held the top spot until March. Following Akasa Air, AIX Connect and Vistara ranked second and third in punctuality, with IndiGo coming in fourth.

The on-time performance of airlines saw an improvement in March due to the resolution of flight delays caused by heavy fog in December, January, and February. However, April experienced a dip in punctuality, primarily due to protests across the Tata Group airlines. Despite this, Akasa Air reported a 5 per cent rise in punctuality, while other airlines experienced declines compared to March 2024.

April's air traffic also surpassed pre-COVID levels, with domestic airlines carrying only 109.95 lakh passengers in April 2019.

The overall cancellation rate for scheduled domestic airlines in April 2024 was 0.80 per cent, slightly higher than the 0.63 per cent recorded in March but lower than February's 0.9 per cent and January's 3.67 per cent. Flybig, a regional airline based in Gurugram, recorded the highest cancellation rate at 10 per cent, followed by new airline Zoom at 9.55 per cent. Alliance Air and Vistara had cancellation rates of 3.99 per cent and 2.40 per cent, respectively. Between March 31 and April 3, Vistara faced significant disruptions, with over 150 flights cancelled and 200 delayed for more than two hours due to "crew unavailability."

Other airlines, including SpiceJet, Connect, and IndiGo, had cancellation rates of 1.48 per cent, 0.55 per cent, and 0.47 per cent, respectively.

The primary reasons for cancellations included miscellaneous factors such as crew unavailability, which accounted for 42.3 per cent of cancellations. Technical issues, weather conditions, operational challenges, and commercial factors contributed 28.2 per cent, 16.2 per cent, 12.6 per cent, and 0.7 per cent, respectively.