MUMBAI: India registered a domestic passenger traffic growth of 96% in January 2023 as airline companies flew 125 lakh travelers compared to 64 lakh flown in January 2022, the month when the Covid 3rd wave had actually begun hitting air travel.This January likewise marked the start of the traditional lean quarter for domestic travel as Indian providers flew about 2 lakh fewer guests when compared to the previous month, December 2022, revealed regular monthly traffic information released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Monday.

Each and every single provider flew less guests in January than in December, the month when year-end travel need had long lines at metro airports such as Delhi and Mumbai.IndiGo, for instance, which holds a market share of 68.5%, had a passenger load aspect (PLF) of 87.5% in December, which fell to 82% in January.

Air Indias load fell from 89% in December to 87.5% in January.In January, airlines denied boarding to 594 passengers and paid about Rs 37 lakh towards settlement.

Over 27,000 passengers were affected by flight cancellations and airline companies paid Rs 48 lakh towards payment.

Flight hold-ups hit 2.4 lakh passengers which had airlines pay Rs 268 lakh towards facilitation.Digi Yatra assisting in contactless - & paperless air travelWeather was the top reason for flight disruptions, representing 86.5% of cancellations, followed by business factors at 5.8% and technical reasons by 4.8 %.

When it concerned traveler complaints, an overall of 418 complaints were submitted by guests versus all providers with the most filed versus Alliance Air at seven complaints per 10,000 travelers flown.

Problem with flights was the leading cause of traveler problems in January.

In the punctuality race, IndiGo emerged the topper with 84.6% of its flights operated to/from the 4 metros departing/arriving on time or within 15 minutes of the scheduled time.

It was followed by Akasa Air at 76.9% and Vistara at 76.6 %.