New Delhi, Dec 25, 2024, IANS

New Delhi, Dec 25 (IANS) India’s commercial airlines flew 1.42 crore passengers on domestic routes in November this year, which represents a robust 12 per cent increase compared to the same month in the previous year, according to figures compiled by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). IndiGo maintained its position as the market leader with a 63.6 per cent share of air traffic, followed by Air India (24.4 per cent), Akasa Air (4.7 per cent) and SpiceJet (3.1 per cent). The market share of Alliance Air stayed flat at 0.7 per cent during the month. "Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-November 2024 were 1,464.02 lakh as against 1,382.34 lakh during the corresponding period of the previous year thereby registering an annual growth of 5.91 per cent and monthly growth of 11.90 per cent," according to the DGCA report. Domestic air passenger traffic was at 142.52 lakh in November compared to 127.36 lakh in the same period a year ago. The number of flyers that took to Indian skies in Nov was also higher than the corresponding figure of 1.36 crore for October. However, the On Time Performance (OTP) of scheduled domestic airlines at Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Mumbai declined during November with passengers facing longer delays. IndiGo's OTP stood at 74.5 per cent while that of Akasa Air and SpiceJet touched 66.4 per cent and 62.5 per cent, respectively. The OTP of Air India and Alliance Air were at 58.8 per cent and 58.9 per cent, respectively, the data showed. The figures also showed that 2,24,904 passengers were hit by delays in November. The airlines paid up close to Rs 2.9 crore towards the facilitation of stranded passengers. As many as 624 passenger-related complaints were received by the scheduled domestic airlines during November. A total of 3,539 passengers were denied boarding in November and an expenditure of Rs 2.84 crore was incurred by airlines for compensating and providing facilities to them. The figures also showed that 27,577 passengers were affected by flight cancellations for which airlines spent Rs 36.79 lakh as compensation and providing facilities.