IndiGo is not so surprising beneficiary of Jet Airways crisis; market share up to 47%

Amid the turbulent times that Jet Airways has been witnessing for the past few months, budget carrier IndiGo has emerged as a not so surprising beneficiary of all the chaos. With the airline being able to increase its market share to 47%, IndiGo has got the largest share of the pie even though all other carriers have recorded an increase in passengers as well post Jet Airways crisis, says a report by Prabhudas Lilladher.

“Taking advantage from the grounding of Jet Airways & Boeing 737 Max, IndiGo further consolidated its leadership position in the domestic market (pax carried) as its market share expanded… to 47%,” said the report. The grounding of Boeing 737 MAX airlines combined with the Jet Airways shut down has also helped SpiceJet, Go Air, Vistara and AirAsia with their market share now at 13.7%, 10%, 4% and 6% respectively, the report added.

IndiGo has been a forerunner in India’s aviation industry, with it being the largest domestic carrier in the number of passengers. The airline has maintained an above 40% market share by passengers carried since March 2018. Meanwhile, AirAsia and Vistara have been in a neck to neck competition, the report cited DGCA data. However, the recent chaos has strengthened IndiGo’s position. Meanwhile, queries have been sent to IndiGo for comments.

IndiGo has been on an expansion spree, possibly having tapped the nerve of the market. While Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had asked the airlines to expand their fleet to cater to the peak summer season, the increasing prices and the gap created by the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft and grounding of Jet Airways fleet, IndiGo, along with Vistara was a step ahead of the government as they had been expanding their fleet before the DGCA request.

The airline announced the addition of six more flights yesterday as well which have been added keeping in mind the growing demand from business and leisure travellers, the airline said. These flights will commence operations on 25 May 2019 and will be daily flights to Bhopal, Allahabad and Patna from Delhi.