Domestic air traffic continued to soar with airlines flying 39.15 lakh passengers in February, up 17% over the same period last year,
suggesting a better financial outlook for the loss-ridden aviation industry. The two major low-cost carriers IndiGo and SpiceJet filled over 80% of their seats during this period, signalling passenger shift towards no-frill air travel, data released by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) showed.
While traffic numbers in February are below that of January, aviation industry experts say, the growth is more real and sustainable. Domestic airline industry had seen nearly 23% jump in passenger numbers in January this year over the same month last year.
“This growth is real and brings rational amount of profit with it. It’s better to have a 17% growth and a good yield rather than a profitless growth of 30%. We are looking at 10-12% growth in air traffic this year,” said Boeing India president Dinesh Keskar. Airlines reported losses of about Rs 8,000 crore in 2008-09, which are expected to widen further in the current year.
As per DGCA, domestic airlines carried 80.86 lakh passengers in the first two months of the calendar year against 67.61 lakh in the corresponding period last year, registering a growth of 19.2%. The domestic air traffic is estimated to grow to about 49 million in 2010 from 43 million last year.
The aviation industry regulator on Monday said airlines added capacity in February. Most of the domestic carriers, especially budget airlines, have plans to add to their fleet size in the coming months. “Traffic number is only slightly better in the first 15 days of this month compared to the same month last year. Yield (revenue per passenger per kilometre) has been fairly good,” an official said.
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