IndiGo’s Market Share Rises

IndiGo, the country’s largest domestic airline, now commands nearly half of the market share. Its market share rose by three per cent reaching 49.9 per cent while overall growth turned negative in April 2019 due to shutting down of operations by Jet Airways. Domestic airlines flew 10.9 million passengers in April 2019 which was 4.5 per cent lower than 11.5 million passengers in April last year when domestic carriers had carried 11.5 million passengers. The decline was due to suspension of operations by Jet Airways, which had a market share of over 13 per cent at the start of the year. Domestic traffic growth which was at double-digit for 50 plus months, has started slowing. In January, growth slowed down to single-digit and turned flat in March 2019 amid increase in fares and decline in capacity.

IndiGo benefitted the most from closure of Jet Airways and grounding of SpiceJet’s Boeing 737 Max 8 fleet in April this year. Its market share rose from 46.9 per cent to 49.9 per cent though number of additional passengers it carried was only 40,000. IndiGo flew 5.48 million passengers in April. All airlines, except SpiceJet, reported gains in market share during the month. SpiceJet’s market share fell from 13.6 to 13.1 per cent. Currently, IndiGo continues to expand its fleet and has 230 aircraft. The airline, however, has missed capacity enhancement for the fourth quarter in FY19 due to delays in aircraft induction. SpiceJet continued to top the occupancy charts reporting 90 per cent plus load factor for the 49th consecutive month. “In April, our load factor stood at 93.7 per cent, which was the highest in the industry,” the airline’s Chief Sales and Revenue Officer Shilpa Bhatia said.