Official data released on Friday shows that domestic air traffic increased 4.8% annually to 12.64 million in February, with over 155,000 passengers experiencing flight delays during that time. While IndiGo's market share slightly decreased to 60.1% in February from 60.2% in January, Air India's increased to 12.8% in February.

Comparing February of last year to the same month last year, domestic aviation traffic increased to 12.64 million, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Less than 13.1 million miles were traveled in January, though.

"Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January - February 2024 were 25.77 mn, as against 24.61 mn during the corresponding period of the previous year thereby registering an annual growth of 4.74 percent and monthly growth of 4.80 per cent," stated the DGCA.

In February, airline delays impacted up to 1,55,387 people, and scheduled carriers paid Rs 22.21 million for assistance. Additionally, according to the DGCA, 29,143 customers were affected by cancellations, and airlines paid Rs 99.96 lakh for facilities and compensation.

There were 917 passengers impacted by denied boarding last month, and the airlines had to pay Rs 78.19 lakh for accommodations and compensation. The scheduled domestic airlines got 791 complaints about passengers in February, or around 0.63 complaints for every 10,000 passengers flown.

According to the research, flight issues accounted for 37.8% of passenger complaints, with baggage (19%), refunds (16.3%), and customer service (11.1%) coming in second and third, respectively. SpiceJet's domestic market share decreased to 5.2% from 5.6% last month, but Vistara and Akasa Air were able to hold onto their shares at 9.9% and 4.5%, respectively.

In February, AIX Connect, formerly known as AirAsia India, held a 6.1% market share, which was steady from the previous month. Alliance Air's share, at 1%, also stayed constant. The statistics indicates that in February, SpiceJet's On-Time Performance (OTP) was 59.1%, while Air India's OTP was 56.4%.

The OTP was 67.4% for Vistara, 72.7 % for IndiGo, and 72.9 % for Akasa Air, calculated for the four metro airports in Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Mumbai.  In February, AIX Connect's OTP reached 73.5%.

"The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for the month of February 2024 has been 0.90 per cent," stated the DGCA. With a cancellation rate of 7.69%, Zoom had the highest rate, while Akasa Air had the lowest at 0.30%.

Fly Big had the highest cancellation rate at 7.41 percent, followed by Alliance Air at 3.83 percent, Indian Air at 3.18 percent, SpiceJet at 1.54%, IndiGo at 0.84 percent, AIX Connect at 0.64 percent, and Air India at 0.62%. Regarding Star Air and Vistara, their respective cancellation rates were 0.60 percent and 0.58 percent.