Air travel in India grew 10.5% in 2002-03

India's domestic air travel market expanded by 10.5 per cent in the financial year ended March 2003, industry figures showed on Tuesday, as airlines slashed fares to revive demand.

Figures from the state-owned Airports Authority of India, which manages India's 128 airports, showed 2.92 crore (29.2 million) passengers filed through its terminals in 2002-03 compared with 2.64 crore (26.4 million) in the previous year.

The figures include passengers embarking and disembarking at the country's 60 operating airfields.

Air travel in India, the world's 12th largest economy, dipped 5.9 per cent in 2001-02 (April-March) following a global downturn in tourist traffic after the September 11 attacks and a slowing world and domestic economy.

Airports Authority said the total number of international passengers -- embarking, disembarking and in transit -- it handled rose 8.9 per cent to 1.48 crore (14.8 million) in 2002-03.

In 2001-02, the number of international passengers had dropped 2.7 per cent over the preceding year.

The increase in the number of passengers came after a sharp cut in fares by the country's two main domestic airlines.

State-owned Indian Airlines and privately-held Jet Airways, who together control nearly 90 per cent of the domestic air travel market, slashed fares by up to 50 per cent in July for tickets bought at least 21 days before travel.

Saroj Datta, Jet Airways' executive director, told Reuters the number of passengers carried by the airline rose 8.6 per cent to 63 lakh (6.3 million) in 2002/03 from 58 lakh (5.8 million) in the previous year.

"But that growth was because the previous year was very poor and we had the discounted fares. All it has done is to return the number of passengers carried to the levels that we had in 2000-01, so there isn't any real growth," Datta said.

Airports Authority figures showed international cargo at its terminals in 2002-03 jumped 15.9 per cent over the previous year after growing just 0.4 per cent in the past year.

Domestic air cargo vaulted 13.5 per cent in the past year, improving from 2.0 per cent growth in 2001-02.