Air traffic falls for first time in 6 years; Jet Airways to be blamed

India’s domestic air traffic registered first negative growth rate in more than five years in April, mainly due to the demise of Jet Airways, global airlines’ grouping IATA said Wednesday. The country was one of the fastest growing domestic aviation markets in the world for the past many months. The International Air Transport Association (IATA), a grouping of around 290 airlines, said following a sustained period of strong double-digit RPK growth, the India domestic market recorded its first negative growth rate in April since January 2014.

Revenue Passenger Kilometre (RPK) is a measure of passenger volumes. “After a sustained period of very strong growth, RPKs in the domestic India market are 0.5 per cent lower than their year-ago level. This is the first negative growth rate in more than five years and is largely due to the demise of Jet Airways,” the grouping said in its global passenger traffic results for April.