IndiGo, Jet Airways gain while SpiceJet loses market share

Overall, the domestic traffic grew 14.35 per cent  in November in comparison to the corresponding month in 2013.

In November, IndiGo retained the top position among domestic airlines, increasing its market share to 33.5 per cent, while SpiceJet’s share fell to 14.9 per cent from 17.3 per cent in October, as it cut its fleet and cancelled flights.

Jet Airways’ share rose to 18.4 in November, the first time it exceeded the 18-per cent mark since March.

Air India’s market share fell to 17.5 per cent.

Overall, domestic airline traffic grew 14.35 per cent last month compared to November 2013; airlines flew 5.87 million passengers, against 5.13 million in November 2013.

November was the second consecutive month of strong traffic for airlines. For October, airlines had reported 18 per cent growth in traffic.

“In November, fares were about 15 per cent lower. This led to passenger growth and a four-five per cent rise in loads for airlines.

The growth also resulted from strong forward sales,” said Samyukth Sridharan, chief operating officer of Cleartrip.

Barring Air India, all airlines reported growth in occupancy.

Air India’s load factor fell from 83.5 per cent in October to 76.9 per cent in November.

Jet Airways’ load stood at 83.8 per cent. SpiceJet reported the highest load factor of 86.9 per cent, though it also had the highest number of cancellations (16 per cent) and fared poorly in terms of punctuality (78.3 per cent). Only Air India’s on-time performance was worse (72.3 per cent).