India’s domestic air traffic dips by 17% in January

India’s domestic air passenger traffic fell to a six-month low in January as the Omicron variant impact travel behaviour. Domestic air passenger traffic declined 17% on year to 6.41 million in January, after touching a 22-month high of 11.2 million in December. The recovery in passenger traffic was so robust in Oct-Dec that airlines reported quarterly profits for the first time after the start of the pandemic in 2020.

During the month, the market share of IndiGo stood at 55.5%, up from 54.8% last month. This is the third straight month when the airline’s market share improved. Recently acquired by the Tata Group, Air India improved its market share to 10.2% from 8.8% in December.

The market share of Alliance Air, the erstwhile subsidiary of Air India, improved slightly to 1.2% in January. The market share of Vistara fell 20 basis points on month to 7.5%. SpiceJet Ltd’s market share rose 30 basis points on month to 10.6%.

The Wadia Group-controlled Go First’s market share fell to 9.9% from 10.7% in December, while the market share of AirAsia India declined to 4.6% from 6.3% the previous month.