new delhi india is no longer the worlds fastest growing domestic air travel market russia overtook india by witnessing 167 growth in april 2017 over same month last year while india grew in this period at 153 according to international air transport association iata the global average domestic air travel growth rate this april over same month last year was 77 and in the new pecking order india is at number two followed by china at 127 japan at 67 and the us at 47indias domestic air travel has been booming due to low crude prices which in turn allowed airlines here to offer cheap airfares but in the past two months as crude firmed up airfares also rose and the domestic skies started becoming a tad less crowded in terms of growth slowing downexactly two months ago in march iata had said that india had been the worlds fastest growing domestic air market for 22 months in a row this meant that till march india saw the highest growth in domestic air travel over the same month in previous year for almost two yearsindia led domestic air markets in yeartoyear growth for the 22nd month in a row january traffic soared 266 marking the 15th consecutive month of 20plus annual growth demand is being stimulated by strong flight frequency iata had said in a statement this march the indian regulators data shows that from january 2016 to january 2017 13 months in a row india saw domestic air travel growing at over 20 on a monthonmonth basis but from this february the growth has slowed due to rising airfares to almost 15the growth happened as low oil prices enabled airlines to offer cheap fares and lead to explosive growth of domestic aviation in india mumbai and delhi desperately need more airport capacity said an airline officialthere is terrible congestion in delhi and mumbai forget adding new flights even existing ones do not operate on time due to delays the aviation authorities should focus on adding infra for years there have been talks of second airports in these two metros but those were mere talks another airline official said