Domestic airlines witness fall in passenger traffic in July

The domestic airline industry has witnessed a fall in the passenger traffic in July 2008, the second month in a row. As per the data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the ten top domestic airlines ferried 30.85 lakh passengers last month compared to 34.87 lakh passengers in July 2007, a decline of around 12%.

Budget airline Air Deccan witnessed the maximum plunge in passenger traffic at 3.45 lakh, from 5.62 lakh in July last year. SpiceJet saw a marginal drop having carried 2.55 lakh passengers, a fall of 13,000 passengers over the same period last year. Air India (domestic), Jet Airways and Go Air also reported a drop in passenger traffic in July.

On the other hand, Kingfisher, JetLite and IndiGo reported a rise in their passenger traffic during the month under review.

Kingfisher Airlines ferried 4.69 lakh travellers in July compared with 4.52 lakh during the same period previously. JetLite carried 10,000 more passengers in July while IndiGo carried 3.64 lakh passengers in July, an addition of 44,000 more travellers over the previous corresponding period.