Days after turning six, low-cost carrier (LCC) IndiGo has upstaged the 1993-founded Jet Group to become the market leader of domestic skies. In July, the LCC carried 19,000 more domestic passengers than Jet-JetKonnect's combined load of 12.07 lakh and pushed the latter to the number two spot for the first time. While IndiGo had been ahead of Jet Airways on a standalone basis in domestic carriage for months, it is the first time that it has overtaken the group as a whole.
A senior Jet official said, "We realized that IndiGo may overtake us in July in the domestic space. While they are constantly adding aircraft and increasing flights, we are putting more of our narrow body Boeing 737s on international routes. It is a simple question of capacity."
According to DGCA figures, IndiGo had a market share of 26% in June, just 1.4% behind Jet-JetKonnect's combined domestic share. In July, IndiGo reached a market share of 27% against Jet Group's 26.6%. Industry analysts said this gap might widen in coming months.
IndiGo currently has a fleet of 58 aircraft, of which 50 Airbus A-320s fly domestic routes and the airline is adding eight to nine aircraft every year. By the end of this year, the fleet size will go to 60. The airline had ordered 100 aircraft about seven years back and has an additional order for 180 A-320 family planes.
With international routes not coming easily to private airlines, a majority of IndiGo's capacity addition would be in the domestic space. But the LCC said it was not chasing market shares. "The fight is to remain profitable in a cost-hostile environment. Market shares are just numbers that we do not chase," a top IndiGo official had said recently, when quizzed when he expected the LCC to overtake Jet Group.
This realization has come from Kingfisher's drastic fall in the domestic market share space. Early last year, the Vijay Mallya-owned airline had the single largest market share as it was ahead of Jet Airways (and not the combine). Today, the airline is India's smallest airline with a share of 3.4% in July.
Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation chief Kapil Kaul said: "IndiGo's march to leadership has been on expected lines... It has been consistently profitable since 2009-10. More important, Indigo has not sacrificed profitability at the cost of achieving market share leadership."
A senior Jet official said, "We realized that IndiGo may overtake us in July in the domestic space. While they are constantly adding aircraft and increasing flights, we are putting more of our narrow body Boeing 737s on international routes. It is a simple question of capacity."
According to DGCA figures, IndiGo had a market share of 26% in June, just 1.4% behind Jet-JetKonnect's combined domestic share. In July, IndiGo reached a market share of 27% against Jet Group's 26.6%. Industry analysts said this gap might widen in coming months.
IndiGo currently has a fleet of 58 aircraft, of which 50 Airbus A-320s fly domestic routes and the airline is adding eight to nine aircraft every year. By the end of this year, the fleet size will go to 60. The airline had ordered 100 aircraft about seven years back and has an additional order for 180 A-320 family planes.
With international routes not coming easily to private airlines, a majority of IndiGo's capacity addition would be in the domestic space. But the LCC said it was not chasing market shares. "The fight is to remain profitable in a cost-hostile environment. Market shares are just numbers that we do not chase," a top IndiGo official had said recently, when quizzed when he expected the LCC to overtake Jet Group.
This realization has come from Kingfisher's drastic fall in the domestic market share space. Early last year, the Vijay Mallya-owned airline had the single largest market share as it was ahead of Jet Airways (and not the combine). Today, the airline is India's smallest airline with a share of 3.4% in July.
Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation chief Kapil Kaul said: "IndiGo's march to leadership has been on expected lines... It has been consistently profitable since 2009-10. More important, Indigo has not sacrificed profitability at the cost of achieving market share leadership."
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