India's air traffic falls by 12%

The domestic air travel in the first three months of this year witnessed a sharp fall with the number of passengers carried declining by almost 12 per cent over the same period last year.

The number of passengers carried by domestic airlines between January and March stood at 99.82 lakh against 113.04 lakh carried in the same period a year ago, recording a "negative growth" of 11.69 per cent, the official air traffic figures released today stated.

The market share of Kingfisher Airlines [ Images ], including its low-cost carrier Kingfisher Red, was ahead of its competitors at 27.2 per cent, though it was lower by 2 per cent form the same period in 2008.

Jet Airways [ Get Quote ] registered 17.9 per cent and its no-frill arm JetLite recorded 7.4 per cent market share. However, Air India [ Images ] (Domestic) improved its market share to 17 per cent from its 2008 figure of 14.7.

Likewise, among the no-frill carriers, IndiGo [ Images ] led the way with 13.5 per cent share, increasing its score from 10.3 per cent last year, the figures showed.