Monopoly, ahoy! Indigo is the sole airline flying on 552 out of 1,048 routes in India

Since the time Air India announced the consolidation of its group airlines and Singapore Airlines decided to go ahead with the merger of Vistara with Air India, there have been continuous concerns around Indian aviation sliding into the hands of two players, which could lead to an increase in fares and lack of choice for consumers.

Even before that debate could go towards its logical conclusion, Go FIRST went down, blaming engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney for its grounding. With SpiceJet having shrunk dramatically and Akasa Air not scaling up fast enough, over 85 percent of the market appears to be controlled by IndiGo and airlines of the Air India group.

The reality is rather different. Indeed, a flight schedule provided by OAG Aviation, exclusively for this article, paints a very different picture. In July, there are 1,048 routes operational in India (Mumbai-Delhi is considered one route, and Delhi-Mumbai is a separate route). A staggering 830 of those routes are operated by IndiGo. Alliance Air, the only government owned airline, comes in next with 158 routes. This is followed by Air India with 153 routes, and SpiceJet with 119. Vistara, which recently carried its 50 millionth passenger, and is slated to merge with Air India next year, operates 100 routes as per data provided by OAG.

While talks of a duopoly are doing the rounds, the fact is, 769 out of 1,048 routes are a monopoly, i.e., only one airline operates on that route. While routes under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) guarantee exclusivity, a look at the schedule shows that monopoly routes beyond RCS include those connecting major cities such as Kolkata and Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad, Delhi and Nagpur and Chennai with Pune.

A staggering 552 routes of the 769 monopoly routes — 72 percent — are operated by IndiGo. Indeed, of the 830 routes that IndiGo flies in India, 66 percent (552) are a monopoly. Should one blame IndiGo for the monopoly or be thankful? Being a monopoly is a double edged sword but it isn’t always a bad thing.

A careful look at the schedule shows that the airline has managed to connect cities that are not mandated under the Route DIspersal Guidelines. This includes flights to Goa (Manohar International Airport) from Bhopal, Vadodara, Dehradun or Rajkot. Connections between Tier 2 cities such as Lucknow and Ranchi, or Bhopal and Udaipur. This typically fuels tourism as well as trade.

There are only 24 routes among all the routes that IndiGo operates where it is not the frequency leader, i.e., another airline has more frequent flights than IndiGo. However, this is when Air India, Air India Express, AirAsia India and Vistara are different airlines.

Club them together, and there are 79 routes where the Air India group airlines have more frequencies than IndiGo. There are 145 routes where there is a duopoly.

05/07/2023 Ameya Joshi/Moneycontrol

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Jul 2023, Indigo Airlines Jul 2023