Domestic air passengers in India grew + 22.6% y-o-y to 8.9 million in November 2016 (v/s +24.8% a year ago; +24% in Q2FY17). However, we believe this strong growth would be at the cost of yields, as seen in headline fares. While November ASK growth stood at +20.4% y-o-y (v/s 19% in Q2 and 16% in FY16), RPKs rose 22.2% y-o-y (v/s 25% in Q2 and 22% in FY16). Load factor stood at 84.5% (v/s 83% in Q2 and 82.9% in FY16).
Domestic air passengers grew +45% y-o-y to 8.9 million (v/s 8.6 million in Oct-16). Domestic passenger growth exceeded 20% for the 13th straight month. IndiGo’s passenger growth stood at 45.1% y-o-y (v/s +38.6% in Q2 and 33% in FY16). Jet Airways’ domestic passenger volumes were flat y-o-y in November (v/s +4.9% in Q2).
Air India’s domestic passengers declined 2% y-o-y (v/s +12.3% in Q2). Passenger volume growth y-o-y for other airlines was as follows: SpiceJet: 17.5% (v/s +24.1% in Q2); Go Air: 19.4% (v/s +22.5% in Q2). IndiGo’s market share stood at 42.2% (v/s 40% in Q2 and 36.9% in FY16). Jet’s market share remained below 20% for the eighth month at 17.3% (v/s 19% in Q2). It had a market share of 20%+ since July 2014.
Air India’s market share stood at 12.8% (v/s 14.4% in Q2FY17). SpiceJet stood at 12.8% (v/s 12.3% in Q2FY17). GoAir’s was at 8% in November. IndiGo’s domestic ASKs rose +35.4% y-o-y (v/s 28% in Q2) with the market share of 43%. SpiceJet’s domestic ASKs grew +13% y-o-y (v/s 26% in Q2). Domestic ASKs of Jet grew +1.1% y-o-y (v/s 3.4% in Q2) and those of GoAir by +13% y-o-y (v/s 8.9% in Q2). IndiGo’s RPKs grew +41.9% y-o-y (v/s 35.5% in Q2), with the highest market share of 44.8% in November 2016.