India’s domestic air travel soars 23% in Jan

India’s domestic air travel soared 22.9 per cent in January compared to a year ago. Growth is being propelled by the comparatively strong domestic economy and increases in air services. The Indian market overtook both Australia and Japan during 2015 and is currently level with Russia at around 1.2 per cent of global revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs).
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced global passenger traffic results for January 2016 showing demand (RPKs) rose 7.1% compared to January 2015. This was ahead of the 2015 full year growth rate of 6.5%. January capacity rose 5.6%, with the result that load factor rose 1.1 percentage points to 78.8%, the highest load factor ever recorded for the first month of the year.
Domestic air travel rose 6.8 per cent in January year-on-year. Capacity rose 5.1 per cent and load factor was 78.9 per cent, up 1.3 per cent percentage points.
“January maintained the strong traffic growth trend seen in 2015, showing the resilience of demand for connectivity despite recent turmoil in equity markets.The record load factor is a result of strong demand for our product and airlines making the most productive use of their assets. Underlying conditions point to another strong year for passenger traffic, with the latestdecline in oil prices likely providing additional stimulus for air travel growth,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO.
Domestic RPKs accounted for about 36% of the total market in 2015. It is most important for North American airlines as it is about 66% of their operations. In Latin America, domestic travel accounts for 46% of operations, primarily owing to the large Brazilian market. For Asia-Pacific carriers, the large markets in India, China and Japan mean that domestic travel accounts for 45% of the region’s operations.