IndiGo Airlines seems to be leading the domestic aviation sector in helping India's embattled air travel up on its feet.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) reports that India's biggest airline by market share, IndiGo carried 42.38 lakh passengers in the month of February, accounting for 54.2 percent of the total number of flyers in the month. SpiceJet, second on the list, was the next best with 12.3 percent (9.62 lakh passengers).
The carrier also left behind competitors in terms of on-time performance (94 percent) at four metro airports&mdashDelhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai&mdashAirAsia India (85.2 percent) and Vistara (82.9 percent) were number two and three.
The aviation regulator also shared that February showed a slight improvement in air travel vis-a-vis January (77.34 lakh in January to 78.27 lakh in February). However, the numbers were still down by 37% from the February 2020 figure.
The other carriers competing for the market share in February were Air India (9.16 lakh), GoAir (5.81 lakh), Vistara (5.4 lakh) and AirAsia India (5.21 lakh). The DGCA added, "The passenger load factor in the month of Feb 2021 has shown increasing trend compared to previous month primarily due to beginning of tourist season," the DGCA said.
SpiceJet trounced the others in terms of occupancy rate, with 78.9 percent. Air India (78.3 percent), GoAir (76.5 percent), IndiGo (74.4 percent), Vistara (73.7 percent), and AirAsia India followed close behind.
Maximum capacity for Indian airlines, which resumed operations in May last year after the halt brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, is capped at 80 percent of their pre-pandemic numbers.