New Delhi, Aug 14 (IANS): Aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Monday that India's domestic air passenger traffic volume surged around 25 per cent so far this year as compared to last year.

According to data released by the DGCA, the number of passengers carried by domestic airlines from January to July this year stood at 881.94 lakh as against 669.54 lakh during the corresponding period of the previous year, registering annual growth of 31.72 per cent and monthly growth of 24.68 per cent.

The data showed that during July 2023, a total of 349 passenger-related complaints were received by the scheduled domestic airlines.

The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried for the month of July 2023 was 0.29 per cent. The major reasons for complaints were flight problems. The airlines have received a total of 349 complaints, out of which 341 have been addressed, the DGCA data said.

Notably, from January to July this year, budget airline IndiGo secured 59 per cent market share by flying 519.91 lakh passengers, while Air India, owned by the Tata Group, carried a total of 81.37 lakh passengers, with a market share of 9.2 per cent.

Vistara, a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, flew 76.55 lakh passengers, securing an 8.7 per cent market share. AirAsia India, now known as AIX Connect, carried 66.79 lakh passengers, making up 7.6 per cent of the total traffic, the data stated.

Asaka Air, which marked its one-year anniversary on the seventh of the month, flew 35.22 lakh passengers and claimed a five per cent market share, the data showed.

Despite its challenges, SpiceJet transported 51.20 lakh passengers from January to July this year, capturing 5.8 per cent of the market. Impressively, SpiceJet achieved the highest load factor at 88.9 per cent in July, compared to June.

IndiGo also excelled in punctuality, with 86.8 per cent of its flights departing or arriving on time at major airports such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.