New Delhi, March 20 (UNI) Showing robust growth trajectory, India’s domestic air passenger traffic rose 13.1% year-on-year to 143 lakh in February 2025, as per research and rating firm ICRA.
For the first 11 months of the current fiscal 2024-25 (FY25), domestic air passenger traffic was 1,551 lakh with a year-on-year growth of 7.7%.
“The airlines’ capacity deployment in February 2025 was higher than February 2024 by 5.1%, but lower by 7.2% over January 2025. It is estimated that the domestic aviation industry operated at a passenger load factor (PLF) of 95.3% in February 2025 against 89.0% in February 2024 and 87.7% in February 2020 (pre-Covid),” ICRA said in its report released on Thursday.
In the first 10 months of FY25, international air passenger traffic for Indian carriers reached approximately 280.9 lakh, showing a significant YoY growth of approximately 14.8%. This is
a 41.3% increase over pre-COVID levels of approximately 198.8 lakh.
As per ICRA, India is among the few countries globally where domestic airlines do not have a leading market position on international routes.
“Market share of foreign airlines on international routes has ranged between 55% and 60% over the last three years. The low share of Indian carriers in international traffic, attributed to India’s restrictive policy regime historically, slow pace of reforms and lagging aviation infrastructure, offers adequate growth potential for them. Further, focus on gradual increase in international routes by Indian carriers is expected to support their market share,” ICRA said.
