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The number of domestic air passengers dipped to 97.05 lakh in July as compared to 1.051 crore in June, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in its latest air traffic data.

According to the DGCA data, the number of passengers carried by domestic airlines during the January-July 2022 period were 669.54 lakh as against 393.44 lakhs during the corresponding period of in 2021, thereby registering an annual growth of 70.18 per cent and monthly growth of 93.82 per cent.

The passenger load factor or occupancy of airlines remained in the range of 75 per cent to 85 per cent in July.

SpiceJet recorded the highest occupancy at 84.7 per cent, followed by Indigo (77.7 per cent), Air India (71.1 per cent) and GoFirst (76.5 per cent).

The aviation sector was one of the worst-hit following the Covid pandemic and the rising rate of aviation fuel only added to the airlines' woes.

Recently, the DGCA announced the removal of lower and upper limits on air fares.

Carriers were of the view that removal of the pricing caps is required for the full-fledged recovery of the sector.