IndiGo, GoAir passenger load factor grows in May; Spicejet reaches ‘record high’ PLFs

Key Highlights

• Passenger load factor of IndiGo, GoAir and SpiceJet crossed 90% in May.
• Domestic carriers have increased capacity addition or available seat kilometre. 
• Total monthly passengers carried by airlines stood at 101.4 lakhs in May alone.

Domestic carriers like IndiGo, GoAir and SpiceJet all reported passenger load factor over 90% in May, Directorate General of Civil Aviation data showed on Monday.

The month of May primarily being a tourist season, passenger load factor by airlines were also at ‘all-time’ high.

“While, IndiGo, SpiceJet (SJet) and Go Air (Go) all reported more than 90% load factors, SJet PLF reached a new high of 94.3%. This will reinvigorate a demand side confidence in the Indian aviation market,” Ansuman Deb analyst from ICICI said in a report dated June 19.

Passenger Load Factor by airlines. Image Source: DGCA report

“SpiceJet’s load factor has remained above 90% for around two years in a row,” Ashutosh Somani and Nitin Agarwala, JM Financial analysts said.

The airlines have also increased capacity addition or available seat kilometre (ASK) in May, which will be a positive for the companies this fiscal.

“Higher ASK growth of IndiGo in the int’l segment will relieve a lot of capacity pressure in the domestic market and give support to the domestic yields,” Deb added.

Also Read: Flight cancellations due to "technical" issues double in May

“Domestic ASK of Indigo and SpiceJet increased 16.2% and 20.8% YoY to 4.5 billion and 1.2 billion respectively. Jet Airways + Jet Lite’s domestic ASK increased 9.2% YoY to 1.9 billion and Air India’s domestic ASK increased 5.3% YoY to 1.5 billion,” the report added.
 

Image Source: ICICI report

Total monthly passengers carried by airlines stood at 101.4 lakhs in May alone, as per the DGCA data released on Monday.

“Passengers carried by domestic airlines during Jan-May 2017 were 465.87 lakhs as against 396.04 lakhs during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering a growth of 17.63%,” DGCA said.

Image Source: DGCA report

Revenue per kilometre (RPK) implies a paying passenger flying one kilometer creates an RPK. Seats that airlines reserve for its own staff and those that it cannot seat customers are not counted in the RPK.

For instance 150 passengers flying 100 kilometers generate 15,000 RPKs.

“In May’17, Indigo’s domestic RPK increased 21.4% YoY to 4.1 billion driven by high PLF at 91.1%, while SpiceJet’s RPK increased 21.8% YoY  to 1.1 billion; Jet Airways + Jet Lite’s domestic RPK increased 12.9% YoY to 1.6 billion and Air India’s domestic RPK remained flat YoY to 1.2 billion,” JM Financial report said.

More than 800 planes will enter Indian skies, with SpiceJet placing an order for 90 new Bombardier and Boeing planes and IndiGo which has plans to acquire 50 smaller aircraft, a report by PTI said on Wednesday.

“The new addition (by SpiceJet) will offer lower per-seat costs and an extended range that will open up new destinations in the single-aisle market,” JM Financial report said.