Domestic air traffic rose by just 1.18 per cent in September, stocks down

The aviation stocks were in the news on Friday after DGCAs report suggested that domestic air traffic rose by just 1.18 per cent in September, 2019 in comparison to the same month last year.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data, showed that domestic airlines flew 11.79 million passengers in the month under review, as against 11.35 million passengers carried in the same month of last year. In an earlier month, that is, August 2019, the domestic passenger growth was 3.87 percent compared to the same month last year.

The airlines also saw declines in load factor. Though, the IndiGo maintained its dominant position with 48.2 per cent market share. On the other hand, SpiceJets market shares fell to 14.7 per cent in September 2019 from 15.5 per cent in August. The market share of Air India, GoAir, AirAsia and Vistara were 13 percent, 11.5 percent, 6.3 percent and 5.8 percent, respectively, in September.

The DGCA report has come on the back of IATA report last week which also had seen declines in air passenger traffic, earlier last week. The IATA data showed that the country’s domestic air passenger market clocked an 8.9 percent growth in July 2019 when compared to the same month last year. However, the data also showed that the average global demand for domestic travel climbed 4.7 percent in August 2019 compared to the same month last year, and unchanged from the previous month.

On Friday, interglobe aviation (Indigo) and SpiceJet closed at Rs. 1729 (down by 0.40 per cent) and Rs. 119.50 (down by 2.29 per cent) respectively on BSE.