As per the latest air travel-related data, coming from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), there has been a 15 percent fall in the year-on-year figures concerning total number of passengers carried by the nine Indian airlines in March - the number coming down from the previous year's 37.11 lakh to the recent 31.60 lakh.

The government data shows that the plunge in the number of passengers taking the air route has been continuing over the past nearly 11 months; and the key reasons for the decline is the decreased number of foreign tourist arrivals.

According to Kapil Kaul - India head of Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation - while the low demand during the mid-January to mid-April period is a usual occurrence, the number of passengers dropped in March largely due to higher airfares over the last few months. Saying that rising fares naturally lead to a fall in traffic, Kaul added that, in the coming months, aggressive marketing strategies will likely kbe adopted by full-service airlines, with the aim of enticing passengers.

The most prominent airlines to be worst-hit by the plunging number of air passengers in March included Jet Airways, with nearly 2.68 lakh fewer passengers than last year; and Kingfisher, with almost 2.34 lakh fewer passengers than flown by Kingfisher and Air Deccan the year before.