Worst September For Air Passenger Traffic In At Least Six Years

Air passenger growth slowed again in September after a blip even as airfares fell.

The number of passengers flying Indian airlines grew at 1 percent year-on-year last month, the worst pace in September in at least six years, according to BloombergQuint’s calculations based on data available from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. That’s nearly one-third of the passenger growth in August and slightly less than a tenth of the monthly average passenger growth in the last five years. Nearly 1.15 crore passengers took to the skies in September, the DGCA data showed.

Ticket prices for domestic routes fell in September as airlines offered discounts, Sharat Dhall, chief operating officer (B2C) at Yatra.com, told BloombergQuint. IndiGo, operated by InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., in a note to investors said the slowdown in passenger growth is due to capacity reduction by the airlines and not because of lower demand.

For the quarter ended September, however, passenger growth was better than the preceding three-month period. That’s because Jet Airways (India) Ltd. shut operations in the first quarter, resulting in significant capacity reduction during the period. Also, a fall in jet fuel prices offset the slowing passenger growth and lower ticket prices during the second quarter of the ongoing financial year.

Prices of aviation turbine fuel, which accounts for more than one-third of airlines’ total operating cost, fell nearly 9 percent year-on-year in the three months ended September.

SpiceJet Ltd. reported faster passenger growth than IndiGo—India’s largest airline—for the fifth straight month. Also, smaller airlines outpaced larger peers in September.

Here’s how the year-on-year passenger growth of major Indian airlines fared in September...

• IndiGo’s passenger growth stood at 13 percent—the slowest pace in 22 months.
• SpiceJet’s air passenger growth stood at 25 percent—the slowest pace in four months.
• Air passenger growth of GoAir stood at 34.2 percent.
• Vistara’s air passenger growth stood at 52.3 percent.
• Air passenger growth of Air India stood at 11.2 percent—the highest in 13 months.
• AirAsia’s air passenger growth stood at 45.6 percent—the highest in 14 months.

Passenger load factor—a measure of capacity utilisation or percentage of seats filled—fell for all airlines, barring IndiGo and AirAsia.

Seat occupancy of IndiGo increased the most in 14 months, while that of SpiceJet fell for the third straight month. Yet, the nation’s second-largest carrier managed to report passenger load factor at more than 90 percent for more than four years.

Passenger load factor of Tata Group-controlled AirAsia rose the most in three years.

Here’s how year-on-year passenger load factor of airlines fared in September…

• IndiGo’s passenger load factor increased 380 basis points to 86.5 percent.
• SpiceJet’s passenger load factor declined 20 basis points to 93 percent.
• Passenger load factor of AirAsia rose 1,300 basis points to 84.7 percent.
• Vistara’s passenger load factor dropped 460 basis points to 80.3 percent.
• GoAir’s passenger load factor fell 390 basis points to 86.7 percent.
• Passenger load factor of Air India fell 210 basis points to 79 percent.

Only IndiGo and Air India gained market share in September compared to last month. SpiceJet’s market share fell the most in four months. Air Asia and Wadia Group-controlled GoAir, too, witnessed a slight drop in market share during the month.