Major airlines grow, regional ones falter
Domestic airlines had registered about 24.14 per cent growth in passengers flown during February compared to the same month a year ago, data released by aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Monday. The data showed Indian carriers carried 10.7 million passengers during the month, up from 8.6 million in February 2017.
However, two new airlines, Air Deccan and Air Odisha, faced hiccups in initial stages. While Air Odisha cancelled 84 per cent of their flights, Air Deccan cancelled around 35 per cent. The two together have bid for the highest number of routes in the government’s regional connectivity scheme UDAN.
SpiceJet continued to maintain its pole position in terms of load factor by flying its planes 96.3 per cent full, followed by IndiGo, which flew with 91.8 per cent seats despite problems with Airbus 320neo aircraft. Vistara’s load factor improved, touching 91.2 per cent seats full — highest by the airline.
“We had a very good month in February across many dimensions, and are gratified that we are becoming the airline of choice for more flyers despite being a premium airline in a price-sensitive market. It shows there is a strong market segment for a superior customer experience. The more people who fly us, the greater the word of mouth, and greater the demand for our product,” said Sanjiv Kapoor, chief strategy and commercial officer, Vistara.
In terms on-time flights, Jet Airways remained the worst performer for the fifth consecutive month. While Jet Airways operated 62.2 per cent of its flights on time, SpiceJet topped the list by operating 78 per cent of its flights on time. IndiGo was second, having operated 74.8 per cent of flights on time.
“SpiceJet has yet again put up an exceptional operational performance by clocking the best on-time performance (78 per cent) among all airlines and the highest passenger load factor (96.3 per cent). This is our highest load factor and comes in the traditionally lean travel month of February. For 35 months in a row, our loads have been in excess of 90 per cent — a feat unparalleled in the industry,” SpiceJet CMD Ajay Singh said.