September 2016: Performance of Indian carriers in domestic aviation market

Airlines in India together carried a total of 82.30 lakh (8.23 million) passengers in the domestic sector in September 2016. Continuing its dream run with above 20% year on year growth rate, the domestic aviation sector had handled 726.98 lakh passengers with 23.17% YoY growth during first nine month (January-September) of 2016 over the same period a year ago. While the MoM growth rate for the month of August was at 23.46%. Going by the passenger growth trend of the first three quarters of 2016 and the planned capacity expansion during the fourth quarter of 2016 (LCCs like IndiGo, GoAir and FSC like Vistara), it remains only matter of time that domestic aviation sector in India to record 100 million annual passenger for the first time in 2016. 

August 2016: Performance of Indian carriers in domestic aviation market

Airlines in India together carried a total of 83.81 lakh (8.38 million) passengers in the domestic sector in August 2016. Continuing its dream run with above 20% year on year growth rate, the domestic aviation sector had handled 644.68 lakh passengers with 23.14% YoY growth during first six month (January-August) of 2016 over the same period a year ago. While the MoM growth rate for the month of August was at 23.98%. Going by the passenger growth trend of the first half of 2016 and the planned capacity expansion during the second half of 2016 (LCCs like IndiGo, GoAir and FSC like Vistara), it remains only matter of time that domestic aviation sector in India to record 100 million annual passenger for the first time in 2016. While IndiGo maintained and further consolidated its top position in terms of domestic market share SpiceJet continued to outperform others in terms of load factors with above 90% PLF for 15 straight months. But in the on-time performance charts, Vistara has once again slipped to second position with IndiGo claiming the top position where it used to be before the arrival of Vistara.

July 2016: Performance of Indian carriers in domestic aviation market

Airlines in India together carried a total of 85.08 lakh (8.58 million) passengers in the domestic sector in July 2016. Continuing its dream run with above 20% year on year growth rate, the domestic aviation sector had handled 560.87 lakh passengers with 23.01% YoY growth during first six month (January-July) of 2016 over the same period a year ago. While the MoM growth rate for the month of July was at 25.82%. Going by the passenger growth trend of the first half of 2016 and the planned capacity expansion during the second half of 2016 (LCCs like IndiGo, GoAir and FSC like Vistara), it remains only matter of time that domestic aviation sector in India to record 100 million annual passenger for the first time in 2016. While IndiGo maintained and further consolidated its top position in terms of domestic market share SpiceJet continued to outperform others in terms of load factors with above 90% PLF for 15 straight months and Vistara once again occupied the top position in the on-time performance charts.

June 2016: Performance of Indian carriers in domestic aviation market

Airlines in India together carried a total of 79.75 lakh (7.97 million) passengers in the domestic sector in June 2016. Continuing its dream run with above 20% year on year growth rate, the domestic aviation sector had handled 475.79 lakh passengers with 22.87% YoY growth during first six month (January-June) of 2016 over the same period a year ago. While the MoM growth rate for the month of June was at 21.63%. Going by the passenger growth trend of the first half of 2016 and the planned capacity expansion during the second half of 2016 (LCCs like IndiGo, GoAir and FSC like Vistara), it remains only matter of time that domestic aviation sector in India to record 100 million annual passenger for the first time in 2016. While IndiGo maintained and further consolidated its top position in terms of domestic market share SpiceJet continued to outperform others in terms of load factors with above 90% PLF for 14 straight months and Vistara once again occupied the top position in the on-time performance charts.

On-time performance: Indian metro airports lead over Chinese hubs

In terms of passenger volume, Chinese metro airports are way ahead of major Indian airports. The passenger traffic of top three airports (Beijing-Capital, Shaghai-Pudong and Guangzhou) in mainland China beat Delhi Airport which is India's busiest airport. China has seven of its top airports listed in the world's top 50 busiest airports while India has only two airports in the same list. But when it comes to on-time performance, a key parameter for efficient airport operations, Indian airports are performing better than Chinese metro airports.

On-time performance of India's four metro airports as of May 2016

May 2016: Performances of Indian carriers in domestic aviation market

Airlines in India together carried a total of 86.69 lakh (8.66 million) passengers in the domestic sector in May 2016. Continuing its dream run with above 20% year on year growth rate, the domestic aviation sector had handled 396.04 lakh passengers with 22.87% growth during January-May 2016 over the same period a year ago. While the MoM growth rate for the month of May was at 21.63%. Going by the passenger growth figures and the planned capacity expansion in the coming months (LCCs like IndiGo, GoAir and FSC like Vistara), it can now be said that domestic aviation sector in India to record 100 million annual passenger for the first time in 2016.

Vistara to cross 2 million passengers milestone in June 2016

Vistara, the country's newest full-service carrier has embarked on a growth path in 2016 and after 16 months of operation it has started reflecting in the passenger volumes. By the end of its first year of operation, Vistara had operated around 300 weekly flights in a network of 12 destinations with a fleet of nine Airbus A320-232 aircraft; A major change in Vistara's operation can be seen right from the beginning of the second quarter of 2016 when the airline considerably increases its available seat kilometers (ASKM) by adding new frequencies on existing routes, launching four new destinations even before it adds the 10th aircraft VT-TTK (first in 2016). 

April 2016: Performances of Indian carriers in domestic aviation market

Airlines in India together carried a total of 79.32 lakh (7.93 million) passengers in the domestic sector in March 2016. Continuing its dream run with above 20% year on year growth rate, the domestic aviation sector had handled 309.35 lakh passengers with 23.22% growth during January-April 2016 over the same period a year ago. While the MoM growth rate for the month of April was at 20.93%. Going by the planned increase in capacity in the coming months (LCCs like IndiGo, GoAir and FSC like Vistara) it would be interesting to see whether 2016 becomes the year when domestic sector in India reaches the mark of 100 million annual passengers for the first time.

March 2016: Performances of Indian carriers in domestic aviation market

Airlines in India together carried a total of 78.72 lakh (7.87 million) passengers in the domestic sector in March 2016. Continuing its dream run with above 20% year on year growth rate, the domestic aviation sector had handled 230.03 lakh passengers with 24.03% growth during January-March 2016 over that of the same period a year ago. While the MoM growth rate for the month of March was at 25.25%. While IndiGo maintained and further consolidated its top position in terms of domestic market share, SpiceJet continued to outperform others in terms of load factors with above 90% PLF for 11 straight months and Vistara topped the on-time performance charts once again for 8 straight months. Among the highlights all airlines except Air Costa has increased their Available Seat Kilometers (ASKM), and number of passenger carried compared to that of March 2015.