New Delhi, Sep 18 (IANS) Domestic air passenger traffic fell 3.70 percent for the fourth straight month in August, which stood at 43.69 lakh from 45.37 lakh travellers in July, official data showed Tuesday.
The trend started in May during which the traffic came down 0.87 percent and stood at 54.48 lakh from 54.96 lakh in the corresponding month of 2011. June recorded a substantial fall of 3.84 percent at 51.08 lakh from 53.12 lakh in the like month of 2011.
The data released by the civil aviation ministry, however, showed the total passengers carried by all the domestic airlines in the January-August period grew by a marginal 0.50 percent at 398.21 lakh passengers from 396.31 lakh during the corresponding month of 2011.
The (total) number of passengers carried by them (domestic airline) were 398.21 lakh between January-August 2012 as against 396.31 lakh during the corresponding period of the previous year showing the passenger traffic growth of plus 0.50 percent, the data showed.
Sectoral analysts said the negative growth rate was due to the seasonal factor.
“There is no reason for alarm. This is a lean period for air traveller not just this year but it happens every year,” Amber Dubey, partner and head-aviation at global consultancy KPMG.
On a standalone basis, IndiGo had the largest market share of 27.6 percent, followed by Jet Airways, 18.7 percent, Air India, 18.2 percent, SpiceJet, 18.5 percent, JetLite, 6.5 percent, Go Air, 7.4 percent, and Kingfisher Airlines, 3.2 percent.
