Domestic Air Traffic Jumps 17% In May

New Delhi: Domestic air traffic grew at 17.36 per cent with Indian airlines ferrying 101.74 lakh passengers last month as compared to 86.69 lakh passengers in May, 2016.

IndiGo, the largest domestic airline by market share, returned to the top spot last month in terms of punctuality with 85 per cent of its flights arriving and departing on schedule.

The Gurgaon-based carrier had clocked a poor third in terms of on-time performance in April this year after retaining the top position in March, which it had lost last year to rival SpiceJet.

IndiGo also flew the maximum number of passengers at 41.91 lakh passengers, cornering 41.2 per cent of the total market pie, according to monthly traffic data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) today.

SpiceJet, however, continued with the highest seat occupancy, registering 94.4 per cent load factor during the reporting month.

"We are bullish that this high double digit growth on a much higher base will continue in the coming months driven by stable oil prices and increased capacity from the airlines.

The roll out of the UDAN scheme is also expected to give a further fillip to the market in the medium term," said Sharat Dhall, Chief Operating Officer (B2C), Yatra.com.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)