... June seat capacity falls by 1.5 mn

ELEVATED FUEL COSTS and continuing airspace restrictions led to a sharp contraction in Air India Group’s scheduled seat capacity in June, with the airline group cutting nearly 1.48 million seats year-on-year (y-o-y)—a decline of 22.5 % to 5.11 million seats from 6.59 million in the same month last year.

- NITIN KUMAR

Air India accounted for the bulk of the decline, with its capacity falling by about 1.02 million seats, or 26.8%, to 2.77 million seats from 3.79 million a year earlier. Air India Express also saw capacity decline by around 0.47 million seats, or 16.6%, to 2.33 million seats, according to data from UK-based aviation analytics firm OAG.

The contraction comes even as the domestic aviation market continues to expand. Total airline capacity rose 5.3% y-o-y to 24.53 million seats in June from 23.29 million a year earlier.