The festival month brought cheer to the domestic airline industry.
In October, the eight domestic airlines flew 39.69 lakh passengers or almost 27% more than the 31.33 lakh people they ferried in the same month last year.
The latest data released by the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) show that the passenger carriage in October was the highest logged by the industry this year surpassing the previous best of 39.29 lakh in May.
Airlines attribute this increase to more people taking a holiday during the festival season and the huge movement of people on leave travel concession.
The only carrier to report a decline in the number of passengers flown in October over the previous month was the Chennai-based Paramount.
The data show that the airline flew about 61,000 passengers last month against 70,000 flown in October 2008.
The industry, however, is being cautious and not seeing the increase in passenger numbers as a sign of total recovery.
“Almost all airlines are reporting healthier passenger loads since last month. We are all hoping that the situation stabilises. Business is bouncing back but it is still too early to say that revival has started,” said an official of a private sector airline.
The Chief Executive Officer of SpiceJet, Sanjay Aggarwal, added that the airline had reported four months of strong growth, of about 25%, in demand over the previous year which was “encouraging”.
A senior Air India official felt that the latest data were a “healthy sign” for the industry.
“The movement of passengers on Leave Travel Concession and for holiday during the festival season helped Air India report consistently high passenger loads. The sweeter news will be an increase in yields that will help airlines reduce their losses,” the official added.
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