Domestic Air Passenger Traffic Sets Single-Day Record of 5.05 Lakh on Nov 17

New Delhi: Domestic air passenger traffic set a new record on Sunday, surpassing 5 lakh mark in a single day, driven by high travel demand during festive and wedding seasons.

In a post on X on Monday evening, Ministry of Civil Aviation announced that on November 17, Indian skies reached a historic milestone with 5,05,412 domestic passengers flying on a single day, first time crossing 5 lakh mark.

According to latest data from Ministry, airlines carried 5,05,412 passengers on Sunday (November 17), with 3,173 flight departures.

"Domestic travel has witnessed strong demand during festive season. Daily flown pax crossed 5 lakh on 17th Nov.

" high pax movement is largely backed by robust festive demand and start of wedding season. We expect strong demand to continue in winter season," Gaurav Patwari, Vice President - Air Category - at travel portal Cleartrip, said.

occupancy of flights operated by main scheduled carriers on Sunday were above 90 per cent.

However, On-Time Performance (OTP) of airlines have been impacted in recent days due to various factors.

On Sunday, OTP of IndiGo was at 74.2 per cent, followed by Alliance Air at 71 per cent and Akasa Air at 67.6 per cent. Among or airlines, SpiceJet and Air India's OTP stood at 66.1 per cent and 57.1 per cent, respectively.

In October, aviation watchdog DGCA said Indian airlines will operate 25,007 flights every week to and from 124 airports in winter schedule that started from October 27.

number of flights is three per cent higher than 24,275 departures per week from 125 airports in current summer schedule.

In comparison to winter schedule 2023, number of flights has increased by 5.37 per cent.

winter schedule is from October 27, 2024 till March 29, 2025.

(with agency inputs)