Air traffic growth slumps in Jan-Jul
Live MintAir passenger traffic in India grew 3.1% in the first seven months of 2019—the slowest pace in at least five years—amid market uncertainties in a slowing economy and the grounding of Jet Airways Ltd. About 82.56 million passengers travelled on domestic routes during the January to July this year, compared with 80.04 million passengers a year earlier, showed data issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Thursday. During January to July, InterGlobe Aviation Ltd’s IndiGo carried 5.69 million passengers, registering a 47.8% market share, while SpiceJet that flew nearly 1.85 million passengers, registered a 15.5% market share. Air India, which flew nearly 1.48 million passengers during the period, recorded a market share of 12.4%. Incidentally, India’s largest domestic carrier IndiGo expects ticket bookings in the 0-15 day window, considered a key revenue-earning window for airlines, to stay weak and add pressure to unit revenues in the quarter, CEO Ronojoy Dutta said at an analysts’ conference call in July.