Domestic flights 84% full in usually lean July

MUMBAI : In a deviation from old flying trends, domestic flights recorded 84% packed capacity in July from 80% recorded last July. The month is usually considered

MUMBAI : In a deviation from old flying trends, domestic flights recorded 84% packed capacity in July from 80% recorded last July. The month is usually considered a lean travel period as it falls right after the summer vacation and sees heavy rainfall.

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According to data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Monday, the booking figures of domestic flights in July was only slightly lower than that in May, which is considered to be the peak summer month for travelling. Data also shows that the belief that there would be a drop in the number of fliers during the off-season and monsoon was outdated.

Most domestic flights in July were almost packed to full seats with only a handful high-fare seats remaining empty. This surge in air travel during that part of the year, between June and September, is almost an unthinkable sales pattern, said travel operators.

“July is usually a lean month for travel. But it is encouraging for the travel industry to see traffic for the domestic passengers growing at over 20%,” said Sharat Dhall, president of travel portal Yatra.com

He said, “With oil prices continuing to remain benign and increasing air capacity, it is likely that airfares will stay low. This is likely to boost growth in domestic passenger traffic.”

Dhall said government measures to connect smaller cities by air will further lead to increase in air traffic.

According to the data obtained from DGCA, domestic fliers’ occupancy in July was the highest in nearly a decade. This trend was witnessed in June as well. “July has seen huge growth in domestic travel. A few reasons for this surge can be attributed to the competition among airline companies driven by low fares, rising demand for travel to smaller cities and steady growth in domestic tourism,” said Manmeet Ahluwalia, marketing head with Expedia in India.

The flying capacity to Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar and Chandigarh , among others , has gone up, said Ahluwalia, adding, “As June to September are offseason months, air fares have been slashed on domestic routes. Another reason for the increase in the number of fliers is that airline companies have increased the number of flights that they operate on the domestic routes.”