India's domestic air passenger traffic grows 2.4% YoY in April
What's the story
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has released data showing a 2.4% year-on-year increase in domestic passenger traffic for April.
The report indicates that 1.32 crore passengers were carried during this month, marking an increase from the same period last year.
However, this figure is slightly lower than the 1.33 crore passengers recorded in March 2024.
Interestingly, the data also reveals that air traffic has now surpassed pre-COVID levels.
Airline performance
Akasa Air tops punctuality charts for second month
Akasa Air has been declared the most punctual airline in India for the second consecutive month.
The airline reported an on-time performance of 89.2% at four major metro airports: New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Mumbai.
Despite a 5% rise in Akasa Air's punctuality in April, other airlines experienced a decrease compared to March 2024.
This dip was attributed to protests across Tata Group airlines during April. AIX Connect and Vistara followed as the second and third most punctual airlines. respectively.
Recovery progress
Domestic air traffic surpasses pre-COVID levels
In April 2019, domestic airlines carried only 1.01 crore passengers, a figure significantly lower than the 1.29 crore lakh passengers flown this April.
This indicates a strong recovery in the aviation sector since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, despite this progress, April's passenger count was slightly lower than March 2024's record of domestic air passengers.