After years of non-stop air passenger traffic growth, India posted its first decline in April.
Domestic air traffic dropped 4.5% in April to 10.9 million passengers, compared to 11.5 million a year ago, according to data published by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
The country’s airline industry had seen almost constant double-digit growth although that had been levelling off slightly since the beginning of 2019.
There are a number of factors for the decline, most notably the collapse of Jet Airways which ceased all operations in mid-April, but had seen a growing number of aircraft grounded for several weeks prior.
The numbers were also impacted by the grounding of SpiceJet’s Boeing 737 Max fleet, while IndiGo’s network expansion was hampered by a pilot shortage.
The DGCA data showed IndiGo extended its dominance to 49.9% share of the market and seems to have been the main beneficiary of Jet Airway’s demise, although other carriers including GoAir and Air India also posted gains in overall market share.
