No-frills carriers bag 30% share

New Delhi: The four low-cost domestic airlines - Air Deccan, Kingfisher Airlines, SpiceJet and GoAir - are now close to capturing almost a third of the domestic aviation market pie, having cornered nearly 30% share in February 2006 - a 3% growth in market share over January.
According to the latest passenger carriage figures with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), barring Indian Airlines and Air Sahara, every other airline reported a growth in market share during February.
While Jet continues to dominate the skies with a 36% share of the market (a growth of its January share of 34.7%), Indian Airlines ended February with just over 23% share of the pie.
Air Deccan emerged as the most significant gainer, strengthened its position as the third largest airline with an over 14% share.
Air Sahara is now in the fourth slot with a near 10% share of the market, but the other new-entrants are already closing the gap fast. Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher grew its share marginally to 7.8%, while SpiceJet followed with a 6.12% share. Jehangir Wadia's GoAir closed February with a near 2% share.
The 33-month-old Air Deccan, has emerged as the airline with the largest network in India, covering 55 airports - higher than established rivals like Indian Airlines (which touches around 43 airports) and Jet Airways (around 44 airports).
24/04/06 Byas Anand/Times of India

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