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Jet Air passenger load factor up in June, July

Ashwini Phadnis

NEW DELHI, Aug. 13

DESPITE June and July being the traditional off-peak period in the domestic aviation sector, Jet Airways has reported high passenger load factors on its entire network.

``Passenger load factors have registered a growth of 35 per cent in July this year vis-a-vis the same period in the previous year. The airline recorded a growth of 34 per cent in passenger loads during June this year as compared to the same period in the previous year,'' senior airline officials said.

On the entire network, while the Jet fleet has recorded a load factor of about 70-72 per cent, the ATR fleet has recorded a load factor of about 62-65 per cent, officials said. The ATR aircraft joined the airline fleet late last year and commenced operat ions from October 15.

The airline has registered increase in traffic demand mainly on the major trunk routes and on several flights operated between major cities such as Mumbai-Delhi, Mumbai-Bangalore and Delhi-Calcutta sectors.

``Certain subsidiary routes in the western and southern regions such as Mumbai-Goa, Mumbai-Mangalore, Mumbai-Ahmedabad and Mumbai-Baroda reported heavy loads. However, the traffic on Mumbai-Calicut and Mumbai-Coimbatore were mostly static,'' officials sa id.

The airline has also been reporting loads of over 70 per cent on certain sectors covered by the ATR aircraft such as Chennai-Hyderabad, Delhi-Chandigarh, Mumbai-Bhavnagar and Mumbai-Indore.

``The increase in seat occupancy cannot be attributed to the Alliance Air mishap. We have been going all-out to offer more routes and better connectivity to the passenger and an increase in passenger load factors is mainly on this account,'' officials sa id.

The seven-year-old airlines operates more than 195 flights daily to about 39 destinations in the country.