New Delhi, Apr 18 (IANS): The number of passengers carried by domestic airlines grew by more than 6.55 percent in the period between January to March 2012 and stood at 152.69 lakh from 143.31 lakh during the corresponding period of 2011.

The data furnished by the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) showed an increase of 1.12 percent in the number of passengers carried during last month at 48.74 lakh from 48.2 lakh carried in the like period of 2011.

Among the domestic passenger carriers, both Jet Airways and budget airline IndiGo had the largest share at 21.9 percent each, followed by national carrier Air India at 17.9 percent, SpiceJet at 17.1 percent, and GoAir at 7.5 percent.

Low-cost carrier (LCC) JetLite's share stood at 7.3 percent, while that of cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines share was 6.4 percent.

Earlier, International Air Transport Association (IATA) traffic monitor had reported that despite the continuing financial woes, India's aviation sector logged 12.3 percent growth in February, which was the second fastest among major domestic markets in the world.