Photo by Rehman Abubakr, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
SpiceJet’s on-time performance dropped to just 34.5 percent in July, according to fresh Directorate General of Civil Aviation data, well behind every other major domestic carrier.
IndiGo topped the rankings with a 91.2 percent on-time performance, followed closely by Akasa Air at 90.8 percent, while Air India came in at 86.5 percent for the month.
The disparity comes even as overall domestic air passenger traffic fell nearly 5 percent year-on-year in July, with Indian carriers flying around 1.2 crore passengers.
IndiGo held onto its dominant market position with a 67.4 percent share and 80.82 lakh passengers, while the Air India group carried 24 percent share with 28.75 lakh passengers.
SpiceJet’s market share has fallen to just 1.6 percent, with only 1.87 lakh passengers flown in July, a stark decline from the carrier’s earlier standing as a major player.
The numbers extend a difficult stretch for SpiceJet, which continues to draw scrutiny over its operational reliability as IndiGo and Akasa Air maintain consistently strong punctuality records.
DGCA’s on-time performance data covers 10 major airports, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Cochin, Guwahati and Lucknow.
Under DGCA’s criteria, a flight is classified as delayed if its departure is more than 15 minutes behind the scheduled time.
Overall flight cancellation rates across Indian carriers stood at 0.62 percent in July, with technical issues accounting for nearly 40 percent of all cancellations.
Among airports, Chennai recorded the best on-time performance overall at 96.7 percent in July, followed by Bengaluru at 94 percent and Hyderabad at 92.4 percent.
IndiGo carried 80.82 lakh passengers in July, giving it a dominant 67.4 percent share of the domestic market, well ahead of the Air India group’s 24 percent share.
Akasa Air carried 6.65 lakh passengers for a 5.5 percent market share in July, while SpiceJet’s share slipped further to just 1.6 percent with 1.87 lakh passengers.
Photo by Rehman Abubakr, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
