New Delhi | Marking a new record, domestic air passenger traffic crossed 5 lakh for the first time in a single day on Sunday, reflecting strong travel demand amid festive and wedding seasons.

Airlines carried 5,05,412 passengers on Sunday (November 17) and the number of flight departures was at 3,173, according to the latest data from the civil aviation ministry.

It was the first time that domestic air passenger traffic crossed the 5 lakh-mark in a single day.

"Domestic travel has witnessed strong demand during the festive season. Daily flown pax crossed 5 lakh on 17th Nov.

"The high pax movement is largely backed by robust festive demand and the start of the wedding season. We expect strong demand to continue in the winter season," Gaurav Patwari, Vice President - Air Category - at travel portal Cleartrip, said.

The occupancy of flights operated by the main scheduled carriers on Sunday were above 90 per cent.

However, On Time Performance (OTP) of the airlines have been impacted in recent days due to various factors.

On Sunday, the OTP of IndiGo was at 74.2 per cent, followed by Alliance Air at 71 per cent and Akasa Air at 67.6 per cent. Among other airlines, SpiceJet and Air India's OTP stood at 66.1 per cent and 57.1 per cent, respectively.

In October, aviation watchdog DGCA said Indian airlines will operate 25,007 flights every week to and from 124 airports in the winter schedule that started from October 27.

The number of flights is three per cent higher than 24,275 departures per week from 125 airports in the current summer schedule.

In comparison to the winter schedule 2023, the number of flights has increased by 5.37 per cent.

The winter schedule is from October 27, 2024 till March 29, 2025.