Traffic in India’s domestic air passenger market, the world’s third largest in FY24, may have beaten pre-pandemic levels, but the number of flights during the period declined.Go First suspending its operations, followed by multiple airlines grounding aircraft for want of both spares and engine service, took a toll on the number of flights, data from aviation analytics firm Cirium show.
Indian airlines were able to undertake 1.05 million flights in FY24, which was lower than the 1.07 million flights clocked in FY20, a drop of 2%. But new routes, aided by the opening of new airports and expansion of existing ones, helped boost passenger numbers.
