India's aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), released its data for August, revealing a slight increase in air traffic. More than 10 million passengers took to the skies, filling up an average of 75% of airplane seats on offer.
Vistara retains no. 2 spot
Last month, the DGCA's data revealed that Vistara climbed to the second position in the Indian market, leaving behind established carriers such as SpiceJet. The airline managed to retain second place in August as well, with a market share of 9.7%.
IndiGo continued to sit comfortably at the top with a market share of 57.7%, although slightly less than the 58.32% it had in July. The third spot was taken by Go First, with a share of 8.6%. Air India and SpiceJet followed with 8.5% and 7.9%, respectively.
Mixed bag for Akasa Air
Newly launched Akasa Air made its debut on the DGCA data charts with a market share of 0.2%. The airline recently welcomed one more aircraft to its fleet and announced Delhi as its sixth destination.
Akasa managed to fill almost 53% of its aircraft seats against an industry average of 75%. It was also hit by several passenger complaints in its first month of operations, behind only Alliance Air on the list. These issues could be seen as teething problems for an airline that is so new, and the next few months will paint a clearer picture.
Many believe that Akasa's load factor will increase as it gets more time to build forward load with more advance booking. The carrier's occupancy is also expected to improve as it flies more on metro routes.
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In terms of the load factor, SpiceJet came out on top at 84.6%, with a microscopic dip from 84.7% in July. While the carrier may have faced intense public and media scrutiny in the recent past, it continues to maintain decent load factors. Vistara was a close second with a load factor of 84.4%.
AirAsia India was the most punctual
AirAsia India continued to maintain its lead in the on-time-performance (OTP) department, topping the list for the fifth consecutive month. In August, the carrier's OTP was 93.3%, making it the most punctual airline in the country.
Vistara was a close second at 91.4%, followed by Air India at 87.9%. Interestingly, the country's top three most punctual airlines are all from the Tata camp.
In August, the least punctual airlines in India were Alliance Air at 72.1% and Go First at 74.9% OTP. The OTP data was gathered from four metro airports – Bangalore (BLR), Delhi (DEL), Hyderabad (HYD), and Mumbai (BOM).
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