DOMESTIC AIR TRAFFIC GROWTH SLUMPS TO 3.15% DURING JAN-JUL

NEWDELHI: Domestic air passenger traffic growth during the January to July 2019 period grew by a meager 3.15% annually, its lowest in the last five years, in the wake of an overall economic slowdown in the country.

During the period, 82.6 million availed services of scheduled domestic airlines, as compared to 80 million who availed such services during the same period of the corresponding year.

During the January to July 2018 period the domestic air traffic grew by 21.79% as compared to the same period of the previous year, data from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) showed, while annual domestic traffic growth during January to July 2017 period stood at 17.18%.

“The meager growth is due to the overall economic slowdown of the economy,” said Mark Martin, chief executive of Martin Consulting Llc, an aviation consultancy.

“The grounding of Jet Airways, and Boeing 737 Max has further contributed to the slowdown though these are just minor factors,” Martin said adding that many corporate, who used to earlier fly down executives across the country for meetings, now prefer video conferencing than flying their officials.

During January to July 2019 period, IndiGo’s carried 5.7 million passengers, registering a 47.8% market share, while SpiceJet that flew 1.85 million passengers, registered a 15.5% market share. National carrier Air India, which flew 1.48 million passengers during the period, recorded a market share of 12.4%.

Incidentally, India’s largest domestic carrier IndiGo expects ticket bookings in the 0-15 day window, considered a key revenue-earning window for airlines, to remain weak and add pressure to unit revenues of the airline during the quarter that ends of September 30, the airline’s chief executive Ronojoy Dutta told analysts at a call in July.