NEW DELHI: India’s domestic air passenger traffic decreased 6.34 per cent to 1.21 crore in August (year-on-year), as SpiceJet’s market share fell to 1.2 per cent from 1.6 per cent in July, data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) showed on Wednesday.

The market shares of major airlines saw mixed movements during the month. Air India’s market share went up 26.7 per cent in August from 24 per cent in July, while IndiGo’s share declined to 65 per cent last month, from 67.4 per cent in July. Akasa Air’s market share remained unchanged at 5.5 per cent last month.

Despite losing some market share, IndiGo continued to dominate the domestic aviation market, carrying 78.87 lakh passengers during the month. The airline was followed by the Air India group, which accounted for 26.7 per cent of the market and carried 32.32 lakh passengers. Akasa Air retained the third position with a 5.5 per cent market share, carrying 6.68 lakh passengers in August.

SpiceJet carried 1.40 lakh passengers during the month. The airline this month faced several operational challenges which delayed its flights. Moreover, as per the DGCA data, IndiGo reported the highest on-time performance among the major airlines at 91 per cent in August, followed by Akasa Air at 90.5 per cent.

The Air India group ranked third with 83.9 per cent on-time performance as Alliance Air's on-time performance stood at 71.8 per cent, according to the data. Meanwhile, the aviation regulator DGCA is closely monitoring SpiceJet's financial and operational performance amid ongoing challenges facing the airline, Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu said on Tuesday.

The civil aviation minister said the DGCA has been tasked with reviewing both the airline's operations and finances to ensure that there is no compromise on aviation safety.