Jan-Mar domestic air passenger traffic up 20% yoy

The total domestic passengers carried by the Scheduled Airlines of India in the first quarter of 2010 (January to March) was 11.8mn. The total domestic passengers carried by the Scheduled Airlines of India in the first quarter of 2009 was 9.8mn. Passengers carried by domestic airlines, including NSOP operators, from January-March 2010 were 12.03mn as against 9.98mn in the corresponding period of year 2009, thereby registering a growth of + 20.54%. Domestic airlines flew close to 4mn passengers during March 2010, up 23% over the corresponding month last year. As per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data, most of the airlines filled over 70% of their seats during this period. The flight occupancy, however, dipped marginally compared with February this year.

Analysis of Capacity (ASKM) and Demand (RPKM) data on Year-to-Year basis indicates that trend of increase in both the capacity and demand continued in the March 2010 also. The month observed low seat factor primarily due to lean season. The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for the month has been 1.9%. The number of passenger related complaints of scheduled domestic airlines for March 2010 has been 4.5 per 10,000 passengers carried.