Akasa Air Trumps IndiGo To Become India's Most Punctual Airline, DGCA Report Reveals

DGCA calculates the On-Time Performance (OTP) of scheduled domestic airlines for four metro airports viz. Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Mumbai.

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The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India's nodal aviation body has released its quarterly report on the Performance of domestic airlines for the year 2023. The report reveals that the passengers carried by domestic airlines during January - March 2023 were 375.04 lakhs as against 247.23 lakhs during the corresponding period of the previous year. The Indian aviation industry, thereby registered an annual growth of 51.70 percent and monthly growth of 21.41 percent. IndiGo remains the biggest airline in India, with a 55.7 percent market share in Q1 2023, and 56.8 percent share in March 2023. 

However, IndiGo lost its title of the India's most punctual airline in March 2023 to the India's newest airline, Akasa Air. As per the On-Time Performance (OTP) of scheduled domestic airlines that has been computed for four metro airports viz. Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Mumbai, Akasa became the leader in the Indian market, trumping IndiGo airline, with an OTP of 94.2 percent, highest in India.

IndiGo, which has been the most punctual airline of India for the longest of time, was only the second airline to score an OTP above 90 percent, with an 92 percent performance. At the third spot was the Tata Group's Vistara, with a 83 percent market share, followed by another Tata airline, Air India with 82.1 percent OTP. The top 5 by completed by yet another Tata airline, Air Asia with 76.6 percent OTP. 

For Akasa Air, Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport remained at the top spot, with 99.4 percent OTP, airport wise. Next came the Bangalore International Airport with 96.6 percent OTP, followed by Mumbai and Delhi international airports. Akasa Air is currently serving 17 cities across India with 19 aircrafts. 

In terms of the market share, Akasa Air reported a 3 percent passenger traffic, amongst all Indian airlines in the Q3 2023. As for the March 2023, the market share was rated at 3.3 percent. 

A total of 11 airlines are currently operating in India, listed under scheduled domestic airlines.