New Delhi, May 20 (PTI) Around 1.08 crore domestic passengers travelled by air in April, approximately 2 per cent more than 1.06 crore who flew in March, Indian aviation regulator DGCA stated on Friday.

The passenger load factors -- which means occupancy rates -- were above 78 per cent for all major Indian private carriers in April, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stated in its monthly statement.

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The load factors of SpiceJet, IndiGo, Vistara, Go First, Air India and AirAsia India were 85.9 per cent, 78.7 per cent, 82.9 per cent, 80.3 per cent, 79.5 per cent and 79.6 per cent, respectively, in April 2022, it mentioned.

In the last two years, the aviation sector has been significantly impacted due to the travel restrictions imposed in India and other countries in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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IndiGo -- India's largest carrier -- carried 64.11 lakh passengers in April, a 58.9 per cent share of the domestic market, the DGCA said.

Go First was in the number two position as it carried 11.09 lakh passengers in April, the aviation regulator mentioned.

SpiceJet flew 10.01 lakh passengers and Air India flew 8.26 lakh passengers in April, according to the data shared by the DGCA.

Vistara and AirAsia India carried 9.04 lakh and 5.92 lakh passengers, respectively, in April, the data showed.

The DGCA data said in April, AirAsia India had the best on-time performance of 94.8 per cent at four metro airports - Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

Speaking about the achievement, Sunil Bhaskaran, MD and CEO, AirAsia India, said “Ensuring efficiency and consistency in our operations is fundamental to providing exceptional service across all our touchpoints.”

“We have driven this through a continuous focus on leveraging technology including the mature utilisation of our RedSmart aviation analytics app which enables real-time monitoring of Precision Time Schedule activities carried out for aircraft turnaround during base and transit departures,” he added.

Vistara and IndiGo were at the second and third positions at the aforementioned four airports in April with 90.9 percent and 90.1 percent on-time performance respectively, the DGCA said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)