Domestic air passenger traffic grows only a tad in 2019, thanks to Jet Airways

Domestic air passengers grow just 3.74% in 2019 as opposed to 18.6% in previous year

Air India stranded Delhi Reuters Passengers outside the Delhi Airport | Reuters

Aviation regulator DGCA on Monday said domestic air passenger traffic grew to 14.41 crore in 2019, an increase of just 3.74 per cent as compared to the previous year.

Commenting on the 2019 data, a senior official of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said, "A bit disappointing. In 2019, we faced headwinds on account of Jet Airways, but 2020 is going to be different and the double digit growth should be back sooner rather than later."

In 2018, the domestic air passenger traffic grew by 18.6 per cent to 13.89 crore.

The domestic air passenger traffic in the month of December last year increased by 2.56 per cent to 1.30 crore compared to the same month in 2018, according to data released by the DGCA on Monday.

InterGlobe Aviation Ltd’s IndiGo continued its market dominance in 2019. Its market share, stood at 47.1 per cent during 2019, against 41.5 per cent in 2018. The airline carried 67.91 million passengers in 2019, up from nearly 57.62 million passengers in 2018.

IndiGo was followed by SpiceJet which flew 21.53 million passengers, achieving a 14.9% market share in 2019. Air India Ltd flew 18.36 million passengers with a domestic market share of 12.7 per cent. 

(With PTI inputs)

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