Air passenger traffic dips for 3rd month

Domestic air passenger traffic witnessed a sharp decline in August as the total passengers carried by scheduled airlines was 43.7 lakh against 45.4 lakh in July, HT reports.

Domestic air passenger traffic witnessed a sharp decline in August as the total passengers carried by scheduled airlines was 43.7 lakh against 45.4 lakh in July.

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This is the third straight month that air traffic has declined compared to the same period last year. Domestic traffic fell by 9.9% in July against the same month last year.

The total number of passengers in the first eight months, however, increased by 0.5% as compared to the year-ago period. "The number of passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-August period was 398.2 lakh as against 396.3 lakh during the same period last year," the aviation ministry said.

Low-cost carrier IndiGo continued with its dominance of the domestic market with a market share of 27.6% in August. It was followed by Jet Airways (25.2%), SpiceJet (18.5%), AI (18.2%), GoAir (7.4%) and KFA (3.2%).

Aviation minister Ajit Singh has directed AI to submit in a week's time a plan to enhance its domestic marketshare.