More than 97 lakh domestic passengers travelled by air in July, 7.6 per cent lower than the 1.05 crore who travelled in June, aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Thursday.
Overall, 6.69 crore people travelled on domestic flights in the January-July period of 2022, the DGCA stated in its monthly statement. The rainy season is usually a lean period for the aviation sector in India.
IndiGo -- India's largest carrier -- carried 57.11 lakh passengers in July, a 58.8 per cent share of the domestic market, it mentioned.
Vistara flew 10.13 lakh passengers and Air India flew 8.14 lakh passengers in July this year, according to the data shared by the DGCA.
Go First, SpiceJet, AirAsia India and Alliance Air carried 7.95 lakh, 7.76 lakh, 4.42 lakh, 1.12 lakh passengers, respectively, in July, the data showed.
The occupancy rate or load factor for SpiceJet was 84.7 per cent in July, the DGCA noted.
The occupancy rate of Vistara, IndiGo, Go First, AirAsia India, and Air India was 84.3 per cent, 77.7 per cent, 76.5 per cent, 75.2 per cent, and 71.1 per cent, respectively, in July, it added.
During the past two years, the aviation sector has been significantly impacted due to travel restrictions imposed in India and other countries in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The DGCA data stated that in July this year, AirAsia India had the best on-time performance of 95.5 per cent at four metro airports -- Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.
Vistara and Go First were at the second and third positions at these four airports in July with 89 per cent and 84.1 per cent on-time performance respectively, the DGCA said.
Meanwhile, amid a surge in Covid-19 cases across the country, the aviation regulator on Wednesday asked all the Indian carriers to strictly adhere to the protocols, including mask mandate for passengers, even inside aircraft.
In a bid to ensure that the norms are in place, in a statement, the DGCA said that it will be conducting "random checks" in aircraft across the country.