Airline industry survives 2011 with no collapse

New Delhi: The one remarkable statistic about aviation in 2011 is that despite everything that happened, air travel actually grew. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), scheduled domestic airlines carried 5.5 million passengers between January and November 2011, a not insignificant growth of 17.6 per cent over the corresponding period last year. And given how people are jetting off for New Years, I am very sure that the year-end numbers might be even higher.
This is the year that Air India almost fell into a coma, thanks to heavy losses and a critical - although, personally I feel a bit unfair in some places - report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Actually, in most other years, the Air India scandal would have taken up more column centimeters in newspapers than it did in 2011, but that was thanks to the overwhelming allegations in the 2G corruption case.
And then there is Kingfisher, whose continued flying some feel is a miracle in itself. More than half their fleet is grounded, debts are piled sky-high and people are leaving them in droves. But, in all honesty, Kingfisher is not alone. Jet Airways pays most of their creditors on time, but are also saddled with immense debts.
Yet none of them have been that successful, thanks to flyers choosing a third option- Indigo. Indigo is now the second-largest airline in India after the Jet Airways group (Jet Airways + JetLite) and on a standalone basis is neck and neck with Jet Airways for top spot with a 19.8 per cent market share as of November 2011.
30/12/11 Kushan Mitra/Business Today

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Dec 2011