Domestic air passenger volume grew 46.54 per cent to 10.35 million in September over the same period last year, according to data released by air safety regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), on Wednesday.

Indian domestic carriers (excluding newbie Akasa Air) had flown a total of 7.06 million passengers on the local routes, the data showed.

Akasa Air commenced its flight services on domestic routes on August 7 this year.

The average passenger load factor of these carriers stood at 77.5 per cent against 72.5 per cent PLF delivered in August 2022, the DGCA data show.

PLF is an airline metric that measures how much of an airline’s passenger-carrying capacity is used.

In terms of market share, leading carrier IndiGo cornered 57 per cent of the total domestic traffic pie, carrying59.72 lakh passengers across its domestic network followed by full-service carrier Vistara.

Vistara flew 9.96 lakh passengers with a 9.6 per cent market share.

The combined market share of Vistara, Air India and AirAsia India stood at 24.7 per cent in September.

Besides, Vistara also had the best on-time performance with 91 per cent of its flights arriving and departing from four key airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore — on time.

In Vistara, Tata Group holds a 51 per cent stake while in AirAsia India, it has a 83.67 per cent holding.

Moreover, Tata Group regained control of Air India on January 27 this year following its privatisation.