New Delhi, 18 Nov

Marking a new record, domestic air passenger traffic crossed the 5 lakh-mark for the first time in a single day on Sunday, reflecting strong travel demand amid festive and wedding season.

In a post on X on Monday evening, the civil aviation ministry said that on 17 November, Indian skies witnessed a historic milestone with 5,05,412 domestic passengers departing on a single day, crossing the 5 lakh-mark for the first time.

Airlines carried 5,05,412 passengers on Sunday (17 November) and the number of flight departures was at 3,173, according to the latest data from the ministry.

Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said the number shows that air travel is now more accessible to the people and that the achievement was made possible due to schemes like UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik).

UDAN, the regional air connectivity scheme, was launched in October 2016.

In a post on X, IndiGo said it was a defining moment for Indian aviation as 5 lakh customers take to the skies daily, within India. "At IndiGo, this is not just a number, it's 3.1 lakh smiles that take off with us, every day," the airline said.

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

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

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

On Sunday, the 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 other 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 the winter schedule that started from 27 October.

The number of flights is three per cent higher than 24,275 departures per week from 125 airports in the current summer schedule. In comparison to the winter schedule 2023, the number of flights has increased by 5.37 per cent.

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