India’s Domestic Air Passenger Traffic Up 7.9% In June
Indias domestic market continues to recover from the demise of Jet Airways, IATA said.
India's domestic air passenger traffic rose 7.9 percent in June over the year ago period even as the average demand for domestic travel across seven major aviation markets declined in the reporting month to 4.4 percent from 4.7 percent earlier, International Air Transport Association said on Thursday.
The overall global passenger traffic (domestic and international), however, rose by 5 percent compared to June 2018, said the IATA.
The international passenger demand rose 5.4 percent in June 2019 compared to the period year-ago, which was an improvement from 4.6 percent annual growth recorded in May.
All regions recorded increase in growth, led by airlines in Africa with capacity increasing 3.4 percent, and load factor increasing by 1.6 percentage points to 83.8 percent, in the reporting month, it said.
“India’s domestic market continues to recover from the demise of Jet Airways, with demand rising 7.9 percent in June compared to the year-ago period,” IATA said.
Once a premier carrier, the now-defunct Jet Airways (India) Ltd. ceased operations on April 17 due to severe liquidity crunch and is currently under insolvency proceedings at the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal.
The grounding of Jet Airways created a mismatch between the demand and capacity, forcing the government to step in and allow other domestic carriers to operate the some of the airline's domestic international slots at various airports.
Demand for domestic travel climbed 4.4 percent in June compared to June 2018, which was a slight slowdown from 4.7 percent annual growth recorded in May, IATA said.
Led by Russia, all of the key domestic markets tracked by IATA reported traffic increases except for Brazil and Australia, it added.
"June continued the trend of solid passenger demand growth while the record load factor shows that airlines are maximising efficiency. Amid continuing trade tensions between the U.S. and China, and rising economic uncertainty in other regions, growth was not as strong as a year ago, said Alexandre de Juniac, director general and chief executive, IATA.
Aviation relies on borders that are open to trade and people to deliver its benefits, he said adding "the ongoing trade disputes are contributing to declining global trade and slowing traffic growth. These developments are not helpful to the global economic outlook.