New Delhi, Nov 22 (IANS): Domestic aviation traffic in the country continues to record growth as passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-October 2022 were 9.88 crore as against 6.20 crore during the corresponding period of previous year, thereby registering annual growth of 59.16 per cent and monthly growth of 26.95 per cent.

As per the data released by aviation regulator DGCA on Tuesday, nearly 1.14 crore passengers were carried by the domestic airlines during October in the country as against 89.85 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 the occupancy of 77.5 per cent during October.

Spicejet recorded the highest occupancy of 88.1 per cent while Indigo witnessed 82.1 per cent passenger load factor during October. Air India had 82.7 per cent and GoFirst had 86.7 per cent occupancy during the month.

Industry sources said that the number of Covid-19 cases have recorded a downward trend in the last couple of weeks resulting in restoration of normalcy in the aviation traffic. Moreover, the government has also gradually done away with various restrictions.

Recently, wearing masks is not mandatory on flights. Earlier, the aviation regulator announced the removal of lower and upper limits on airfares after discussions among the 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.