Domestic aviation passenger traffic rose 23 per cent in the month of January against the same period in the previous year.

The data released by the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) shows that a total of 40.87 lakh passengers flew in the country in the month of January 2010. This is lower than 44.87 lakh passenger in December 2009.

January is the fourth consecutive month in which the passenger traffic has risen over the previous year. All of the eight domestic airlines recorded growth in passenger numbers.

Low cost airlines accounted for nearly 60% of all passengers. Jet Airways and rival Kingfisher have both dedicated most of their fleet to low cost domestic operations.

The domestic unit of state owned Air India flew 7.34 lakh passengers and private Airline Jet Airways flew 7.51 lakh passengers.

Most airlines still express caution about the full recovery in the sector. Even though the passenger number growths are higher than expected, the earnings by the airlines continue to be soft.

The sector had an overall cancellation rate of 5.7 per cent during the month due to weather conditions. The DGCA release said "The cancellation rate in January was comparatively high primarily due to foggy conditions prevalent in northern part of the country."

The Airport Economic Regulatory Authority is planning a new model to have a better way of predicting the passenger numbers as the authority also decides airport charges for airlines and user fees for passengers.