Mumbai, Apr 25: The domestic air passenger traffic for March has been estimated at 148.8 lakh, higher by 11.3 per cent on an annual basis and 5.9 per cent higher than 140.4 lakh in February 2025, a report said on Thursday.For FY25 (April 2024-March 2025), the domestic air passenger traffic was 1,657.1 lakh, a YoY growth of 7.8 per cent and 17.1 per cent higher than the pre-Covid level of 1,415.6 lakh in FY20, according to a report by credit rating agency ICRA.
The outlook for the Indian aviation industry remains stable, driven by expectations of moderate growth in domestic air passenger traffic and a relatively stable cost environment in FY26, it added.
In the 11 months of FY25, the international passenger traffic for Indian carriers stood at 309.5 lakh with a YoY growth of 14.6 per cent — higher than the pre-Covid level of 218.1 lakh by 41.9 per cent.
According to the report, the airlines’ capacity deployment in March 2025 was higher than March 2024 by 8.5 per cent and 10.7 per cent over February 2025.
This was in line with ICRA’s estimates of 7-10 per cent YoY growth for FY25. It is estimated that the domestic aviation industry operated at a passenger load factor (PLF) of 88.2 per cent in March 2025, against 86.0 per cent in March 2024, and 87.0 per cent for FY25 — against 88.0 per cent in FY24.
From April 2024-March 2025, the ATF prices were lower on a YoY basis in the months of April, June, September, October, January and March 2025, resulting in average ATF prices in FY25 being lower by 8 per cent on a YoY basis.
The ATF prices further declined in April 2025 by 6.1 per cent sequentially and remained lower by 12.9 per cent on YoY basis, the report mentioned.
“The airlines’ efforts to effect fare hikes, proportionate to their input cost increase, will be the key to expand their profit margins,” it added.
According to data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in March, India’s scheduled domestic flight operators ferried around 1.40 crore passengers during February this year, up from 1.26 crore in the same month of the previous year.
DGCA’s monthly passenger traffic report shows that IndiGo continues to be the country’s largest airline with a 63.7 per cent market share. The low-cost carrier flew 89.40 lakh passengers in February 2025.
IndiGo was followed by Air India Group, including Air India Express, which carried 38.30 lakh passengers, which gives the Tata Group airline a 27.3 per cent market share.