From correspondents in Delhi, India, 10:01 PM IST

India's airlines carried 8.61 million domestic passengers in the third quarter this year, down from 11.1 million and 11.5 million in the first and the second quarters respectively, a government statement said here Monday.

Private airline Jet Airways flew 2.04 million passengers in the July-September quarter, a non-peak season, while public sector carrier Air India (domestic) carried 1.56 million, followed by Kingfisher Airlines that flew 1.3 million passengers, the statement said.

In the low-cost carriers (LCC) segment, Deccan, now Kingfisher Red, carried highest number of passengers - 960,000 - followed by IndiGo (880,000), JetLite (760,000), SpiceJet (710,000), Go Air (200,000) and Paramount (140,000).

The percentage share of the carriers in the third quarter was: Jet Airways (23.8 percent), Air India (18.1 percent), Kingfisher (15.2 percent) Deccan (11.3 percent), IndiGo (10.3 percent), JetLite (8.8 percent), SpiceJet (8.3 percent), Go Air (2.3 percent) and Paramount (1.6 percent).

(Staff Writer, © IANS)