1 cr take domestic flights in a month

For the first time ever, domestic air passengers in India have crossed one crore in a month.

A report by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation says domestic airlines carried 1.01 crore passengers in May as against 86.69 lakh passengers during the month last year, clocking a growth of 17.36%. Till May this year, the sector showed a growth of 17.63%, as against the first five months of 2016. Airlines have ferried 4.65 crore passengers this year as against 3.96 crore in the corresponding period last year.

 The growth is attributed to tourism, with almost all airlines showing a rise in seat occupancy in May. Except for AirAsia India and Zoom Air, all airlines recorded an increase in their passenger load factor. SpiceJet continued to be the leader, with 94.3% occupancy as against 93.4% in April, and 91.4% in March.

AirAsia India, which came second for March and April, dropped to the fourth position in May, with 89.4% occupancy as against 90.1% in April.

The overall cancellation rate for May was 0.33%, down from April's 0.43%. It was 0.41% in March, 0.39% in February and 1.10% in January.

Last month, 716 passenger-related complaints were received by domestic airlines. The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried is 0.70, the same as in April.