Domestic airlines experience muted air traffic growth during 2019 holiday season

The holiday season did not bring much cheer to the Indian aviation sector. Domestic air traffic in December 2019 grew modestly by 2.7% year-on-year to 1.3 lakh passengers, compared with 11.2% growth in November.
In a month that typically sees increased air travel, capacity utilisation remained muted among major domestic airlines in December. The average passenger load factor of major Indian airlines stood at 84.45% in December 2019, compared with 86.8% a year ago. For the full year, domestic traffic grew just 3.7% annually in 2019.