Lean March saw domestic flyers touch pre-Covid peak levels at almost 1.3 crore | India News
NEW DELHI: New Delhi: Historically March is a lean travel month with people beginning to move around in the peak holiday summer April-June quarter. But according to DGCA data this March saw almost 1.29 crore domestic flyers — more than the number seen in peak travel months of October 2022 (1.14 crore), November (1.17 crore) and December (1.27 crore). In fact, this March is closest to the all-time monthly domestic air travel high of pre-Covid December 2019 at 1.3 crore.
The March 2023 figure shows the rebound in travel has happened despite airfares being at record highs with over 100 Airbus A320 family aircraft of IndiGo and GoAir being grounded for months due to Pratt & Whitney’s inability to supply engines and spares.
Sanjay Kumar, a veteran of Indian aviation who till recently was IndiGo’s chief strategy and revenue officer, said: “After early 2020, life is now getting back to normal. All forms of travel is back — holiday, work, visiting friends and relatives and MICE (meeting, incentive, conferences and exhibitions). This despite the fact that fares are up and capacity is constrained due to so many aircraft being grounded. We are getting into a very stable travel and revenue period. The coming April-June summer travel months will be the golden period for the travel industry.”
The two things to watch, Kumar added, will be oil prices and rupee-dollar exchange rate with currently both the things being in the reasonably comfortable zone.
“RBI’s decision not to hike interest rates has also provided relief and given a further boost to the travel sentiment,” he said.
DGCA data shows IndiGo’s domestic market share at 56.8% this March. The combined Tata Group market share was 25.3% — Vistara at 8.9%; Air India at 8.8% and AirAsia India at 7.6%. Cash-strapped SpiceJet saw its market share decline to 6.4% from about 7% this January and February.
GoAir, which is also having facing issues, saw its market share at 6.9%. Akasa, which started flying last August and is inducting an aircraft every fortnight, saw its share rise to 3.3%.
Thanks to the strong travel seen in March and over 100 planes being grounded, airlines saw strong load factor (aircraft occupancy). Among big and emerging carriers, this ranged from SpiceJet’s 92.3% to Akasa’s 73.6%.
The March 2023 figure shows the rebound in travel has happened despite airfares being at record highs with over 100 Airbus A320 family aircraft of IndiGo and GoAir being grounded for months due to Pratt & Whitney’s inability to supply engines and spares.
Sanjay Kumar, a veteran of Indian aviation who till recently was IndiGo’s chief strategy and revenue officer, said: “After early 2020, life is now getting back to normal. All forms of travel is back — holiday, work, visiting friends and relatives and MICE (meeting, incentive, conferences and exhibitions). This despite the fact that fares are up and capacity is constrained due to so many aircraft being grounded. We are getting into a very stable travel and revenue period. The coming April-June summer travel months will be the golden period for the travel industry.”
The two things to watch, Kumar added, will be oil prices and rupee-dollar exchange rate with currently both the things being in the reasonably comfortable zone.
“RBI’s decision not to hike interest rates has also provided relief and given a further boost to the travel sentiment,” he said.
DGCA data shows IndiGo’s domestic market share at 56.8% this March. The combined Tata Group market share was 25.3% — Vistara at 8.9%; Air India at 8.8% and AirAsia India at 7.6%. Cash-strapped SpiceJet saw its market share decline to 6.4% from about 7% this January and February.
GoAir, which is also having facing issues, saw its market share at 6.9%. Akasa, which started flying last August and is inducting an aircraft every fortnight, saw its share rise to 3.3%.
Thanks to the strong travel seen in March and over 100 planes being grounded, airlines saw strong load factor (aircraft occupancy). Among big and emerging carriers, this ranged from SpiceJet’s 92.3% to Akasa’s 73.6%.
