Indian airlines saw lower passenger rate in 2020: DGCA

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic continues to be felt on the Indian aviation sector. A recent survey by the Director-General of Civil Aviation observed that Indian airlines witnessed a stark decrease in passengers in 2020.

A total of 6.3 crore domestic passengers travelled by air last year, 56.29 percent lower than 2019, Indian aviation regulator DGCA said.

The regulator said that only 73.27 lakh people travelled by air domestically in December last year, which was 43.72 percent lower than in the corresponding period of 2019.

While IndiGo carried 3.25 crore passengers last year, a 51.7 percent share of the total domestic market, SpiceJet flew 93.9 lakh passengers, which is 14.9 percent share of the market, according to data shared by the DGCA.

Air India, GoAir, AirAsia India and Vistara carried 69.32 lakh, 54.38 lakh, 43.87 lakh and 39.39 lakh passengers, respectively, in 2020, the data showed.

The occupancy rate or load factor of six major Indian airlines was between 65.1 percent and 78 percent in December 2020, it said.

“The passenger load factor in the month of December 2020 has shown declining trend compared to the previous month primarily due to the end of tourist season,” the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said.

The occupancy rate at SpiceJet was 78 percent last month, the highest among the six major Indian carriers.

India resumed domestic passenger flights on May 25 after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Indian airlines are allowed to operate a maximum of 80 percent of their pre-COVID-19 domestic flights.

The DGCA data mentioned that in December, IndiGo had the best on-time performance of 94.9 percent at four metro airports – Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

AirAsia India and Vistara were at number two and three at these four airports in November with 89.9 percent and 88.4 percent on-time performance, respectively, the DGCA said.

The aviation sector has been significantly impacted due to the travel restrictions imposed in India and other countries in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

All airlines in India have taken cost-cutting measures such as pay cuts, leave without pay and firing of employees in order to tide over the crisis.