Airlines carry more passengers but earn less

New Delhi: Airlines have started to come out of the dive that they started in November 2008, when they flew 3 million passengers, compared with 4.1 million in May of that year.
In June 2009 they carried almost 3.7 million passengers, and in July they carried marginally fewer passengers at 3.6 million. Good news? Not quite, because they are making less money per seat they sell than they were in 2008. This is the effect of the shift towards the low-cost model — sell more seats but earn less per seat.
The latest data collated by the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation show that during July this year the airlines flew 35.97 lakhs passengers or almost 3.6 million, registering a growth of 18 per cent compared with the same period in the previous year.
In July this year, the highest increase in passenger carriage for a stand alone airline was shown by the Mumbai-based low-cost airline Go Air which carried 2.04 lakh passengers, up from 75,000 in July last year. Kingfisher Airlines, which does not give a break-up of number of passengers flown by its 100-per cent subsidiary Red, carried 8.29 lakh, up from 4.69 lakh passengers. In July last year, Kingfisher and Air Deccan were operating as separate entities. But later Kingfisher Airlines purchased Air Deccan and renamed it Kingfisher Red. NACIL (Domestic), JetLite, SpiceJet, Paramount and IndiGo all flew more passengers during July this year compared with the same period in the previous year.
12/08/09 Business Line

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Aug 2009