A total of  6.3 crore domestic passengers travelled by air in India last year, which is 56.29%  lower than 2019, reported PTI, quoting Indian aviation regulator DGCA.

DGCA said on Friday that the coronavirus pandemic continues to be felt on the Indian aviation sector, with only 73.27 lakh people travelling by air domestically in December last year, which was 43.72% lower than in the corresponding period of 2019.

According to data shared by the DGCA, IndiGo carried 3.25 crore passengers last year, a 51.7% share of the total domestic market, while SpiceJet flew 93.9 lakh passengers, which is 14.9% share of the market.

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Last year, Air India, GoAir, AirAsia India and Vistara carried 69.32 lakh, 54.38 lakh, 43.87 lakh and 39.39 lakh passengers, respectively.

According to the dat, the occupancy rate or load factor of six major Indian airlines was between 65.1% and 78% in December 2020.

Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said, “The passenger load factor in the month of December 2020 has shown declining trend compared to the previous month primarily due to the end of tourist season.”

The occupancy rate at SpiceJet was 78% last month, highest among the six major Indian carriers.

India resumed domestic passenger flights on May 25 after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Indian airlines are allowed to operate a maximum of 80% of their pre-COVID-19 domestic flights.

The DGCA data mentioned that in December, IndiGo had the best on-time performance of 94.9% at four metro airports – Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

In a statement, Ronojoy Dutta, CEO, IndiGo, said, “On-time performance is one of the most critical aspects of customer service. But it is not possible to deliver a high OTP without a fully engaged employee workforce. I am delighted everytime I see a winning OTP number, it signifies we are pleasing the customer and it signifies our employee culture is strong.” AirAsia India and Vistara were at number two and three at these four airports in November with 89.9% and 88.4% on-time performance, respectively, the DGCA said.

The aviation sector has been significantly impacted due to the travel restrictions imposed in India and other countries in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

All airlines in India have taken cost-cutting measures such as pay cuts, leave without pay and firing of employees in order to tide over the crisis.