According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) of India , monthly traffic data released on Thursday, a significant number of passengers relying on air travel in India, totaling 4.82 lakh, experienced flight delays exceeding two hours in January, leading airlines to incur a total expenditure of Rs 3.69 crore (USD 444,472.68) towards facilitation.
The report highlighted a 4.69 percent increase in domestic passenger traffic in January, reaching 1.31 crore compared to the same period last year.
This surge follows the previous year’s figure of 1.25 crore recorded for January 2023.
Alongside delayed flights, the report revealed that 1,374 passengers were denied boarding by various airlines in the preceding month, prompting compensation expenses of Rs 1.28 crore (USD 154,180.22).
This compensation included provisions for alternative flights, accommodation, refreshments, and meals.
Furthermore, airlines disbursed Rs 1.43 crore (USD 172,251.94) to compensate and facilitate 68,362 passengers affected by flight cancellations during the month, as per DGCA data.
Regarding domestic passenger traffic distribution, budget carrier IndiGo captured the largest market share with 60.2 percent, equivalent to 79.09 lakh passengers, followed by Air India at 12.2 percent, serving 15.97 lakh passengers in January 2024.
During January, scheduled domestic airlines received a total of 732 passenger-related complaints.
The ratio of complaints per 10,000 passengers stood at 0.56, attributed to various factors. Flight-related issues accounted for 54.8 percent of complaints, followed by refund concerns at 17.8 percent, baggage-related grievances at 10.4 percent, and staff behavior issues at 4.7 percent.
Notably, Akasa Air , which commenced operations in August 2022, demonstrated the highest on-time performance among key metro airports – Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.
Approximately 71.8 percent of Akasa Air’s flights arrived and departed on schedule, according to the DGCA data.
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