New Delhi, Oct 19 (IANS): Domestic air traffic registered an annual growth of 64.61 per cent and monthly growth of 46.54 per cent as passengers travelling within the country from January to September increased to 8.74 crore as against 5.31 crore recorded in the corresponding period of 2021, according to the latest data released by the DGCA.

As per the data, nearly 1.03 crore passengers were carried by the domestic airlines in September as against 70.66 lakh during the same period last year.

The passenger load factor or occupancy of the airlines remained on the higher side in the range of 75 to 85 per cent.

Newly launched Akasa Air marked an 81.2 per cent occupancy last month.

SpiceJet recorded the highest occupancy of 85.8 per cent, followed by at 81.4 per cent, Air India 77 per cent and GoFirst 83.2 per cent.

Industry sources said that the number of Covid casesAhave recorded a downward trend in the last couple of weeks resulting in restoration of normalcy in the aviation traffic.

Recently, the aviation regulator announced the removal of lower and upper limits on airfares in the country.

It was done after discussions on removing the fare bands for domestic airfares were held among stakeholders, including government authorities and airlines.

Carriers were of the view that removal of the pricing caps is required for the full-fledged recovery of domestic air traffic.