The share of domestic carriers in the international passenger market declined in January-March 2016 compared with the same period a year ago, report Bilal Abdi and Sumit Jha in New Delhi. International passengers carried to and from the country in the period grew 9.3% but local carriers recorded a modest 5.5% growth in this segment versus nearly 12% clocked by international carriers.
This is because domestic carriers ply on fewer international routes. According to civil aviation ministry data, foreign carriers utilise 432,456 seats a week for Indian passengers, against 242,365 seats by Indian carriers.
Another reason for the declining share of domestic carriers is the increasing code share international carriers are entering into with domestic airlines. For instance, Jet Airways’ overall market share in international traffic declined to 13.5% in January-March 2016 from 15% earlier but the share of Etihad Airways, which owns a 24% stake in Jet, grew to 4.8% from 3.8% earlier.
“A lot of the incremental growth clocked by international carriers is due to their code-share agreements with domestic carriers, hence that may fudge the actual number of passengers carried by domestic carriers,” Amrit Pandurangi, senior director, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India, said. The easing of the 5/20 rule may see more of flying by domestic airlines on international routes.
