Airborne: Indian reigns domestic skies

New Delhi: Even as its merger with Air India has entered the final lap, public sector carrier Indian has laid a strong foundation for formation of India’s largest airline by emerging as market leader in the domestic skies. Racing ahead of Jet Airways for three months in a row, the airline has re-established itself as a player to reckon with in the domestic market even as consolidation is queering the pitch. According to industry estimates, Indian’s market share in May was 21.7% compared to 20.8% in the case of Jet Airways.
The move comes as a good news for the giant airline formed by merger of Air India and Indian since rivals Kingfisher and Jet have consolidated their position by taking over, respectively, Air Deccan and Air Sahara. Leadership in the domestic market combined with established international operations would give the merged entity a strong footing in competing with the Jet-Sahara and Kingfisher-Deccan groupings, industry observers feel.
Even at the beginning of this year, the situation was different. Indian had only 17.1% market share compared to 23.7% in the case of Jet. However, aggressive marketing and lower prices helped the public sector carrier to step up its share to 21.9% in March compared to 21.7% in the case of Jet. The lead increased marginally in April with Indian holding on to 21.9% while Jet’s declined a tad lower to 20.9%. While both carriers lost market share to new players in May, Indian has managed to cling on to the lead.
27/06/07 Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

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Categories: Indian Jun 2007