India fastest growing domestic aviation market for 4th year: IATA

NEW DELHI: India was the fastest growing domestic air travel market globally in 2018 with the country seeing 18.6% more people flying within the country than the previous year. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) on Thursday came out with the full year aviation data for 2018, which stated “India domestic market recorded the fastest full year domestic growth rate for the fourth year in a row (18.6%)”, followed by China (11.7%).

“In both countries, domestic demand was underpinned by a robust economic expansion as well as by increasing number of domestic pairs – particularly in India, which recorded its 50th consecutive month of double-digit annual growth in October. In China, there have been some recent signs of slowdown in passenger demand, reflecting increasing concerns of a moderation in economic activity,” IATA said in a statement.



According to Directorate General of Civil Aviation, India had 13.9 crore domestic air travellers in 2018 — up 18.6% from 11.7 crore in 2017. The growth in 2017 over 2016 was 17.3%. And the growth in domestic flyers in 2016 over 2015 and 2015 over 2014 was 23.2% and 20.3%, respectively.

IATA says domestic air travel globally climbed 7% last year, which was unchanged from the rate in 2017. All markets showed annual growth, led by India and China, which both posted double-digit annual increases. Capacity rose 6.8% and load factor was 83.0%, up 0.2% percentage point compared to 2017.

Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s DG and CEO, said: “2018 was another year of strong passenger demand, as aviation continued to support the global economy. We expect similar if somewhat moderating performance in 2019. Nevertheless, slowing growth in the second half of 2018, coupled with concerns over issues including Brexit and US-China trade tensions, are creating some uncertainty to this positive outlook.”