India’s October Domestic Air Passenger Traffic Up 13%

New Delhi: India’s domestic air passenger traffic grew by 13.34 percent in October, official data showed on Thursday. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), 1.18 crore passengers were ferried by domestic airlines during the month under review, up from 1.045 crore reported during the corresponding month of 2017. As per the data, passenger traffic during the January-October 2018 period grew by 20 per cent. “Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-October 2018 were 1,146.37 lakh (11.46 crore) as against 954.45 lakh (9.54 crore) during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering a growth of 20.11 per cent,” the DGCA said in its monthly domestic traffic report. The data disclosed that low-cost carrier SpiceJet had the highest passenger load factor (PLF) — a measure of capacity utilisation of the airline — at 90.8 per cent during October. “This is the 43rd month-in-a-row that we have flown with the highest loads in India. This has set a new benchmark in global aviation and we are proud of that,” said Shilpa Bhatia, Chief Sales and Revenue Officer, SpiceJet. (IANS)