Adding wings: Indian airlines led by IndiGo up international share
Indian airlines led by the InterGlobe Aviation Pvt Ltdrun IndiGo have increased their share of international passenger market share to and from the country.
“The market share of the Indian carriers on international routes increased to a seven-year high of 37% in July 2017 ,” said Anand Kulkarni, Associate Vice President and associate head (corporate sector ratings), ICRA, “Indian airlines (predominantly IndiGo) are pushing harder it seems. IndiGo is deploying sizeable capacity on international routes.”
IndiGo’s capacity on international routes increased by 76.1% in July 2017 over the year-ago period and by 68.2% in first four months of 2017-18.
Its market share has jumped from 3.1% in July 2016 to 5.0% in July 2017 ICRA said.
“All other India airlines have more are less maintained the market share that they had,” Kulkarni added.
Indian airlines had a 35.9% share of the international market in July 2016.
Indian airlines outperformed the industry on international routes with a passenger traffic growth of 13.1% in July 2017, as against 9.5% for the industry, ICRA said.
To be sure Indian airlines have been increasing their market share over the last few years and ended 2016-17 with a 37.7% share of the market compared with 28.9% in 2004-5 according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
This means the share of Indian airlines for 2017-18 could be even higher.
In 2016-17, Air India had the largest share of international traffic (16.6%) followed by Jet’s 14.5%, Emirates 9.9%, Etihad’s 5%, Qatar’s 3.9%, IndiGo’s 3.5% Air Arabia and Oman Air’s 3.2%, SpiceJet’s 3.1% and Singapore Airlines’ 2%.
Out of 92 scheduled international airlines that fly to and from India, the top six account for nearly 50% of total international passenger traffic and the top 15 for almost 75% according to DGCA.