Overseas air travel: Indian carriers soar, market share higher than pre-Covid level

Leading this expansion in market share, primarily, are IndiGo and Vistara.

In fact, the October-December share is the highest among all corresponding quarters that had regular international flight operations since 2015. The assessment excludes the October-December periods of 2020 and 2021 as regular international flights had not resumed at the time and bubble arrangements were still in place. Data prior to 2015 has not been made publicly available by the DGCA.

Of the total of 1.45 crore passengers who flew into or out of India in October-December last year, Indian Airlines carried 63.06 lakh passengers. Data show that the 1.45-crore figure is close to 90 per cent of the level seen in the December quarter of 2019, suggesting that international flight operations are within striking distance of pre-COVID levels. Domestic air traffic has already exceeded pre-pandemic volumes.

Fuelling this surge in international market share are: higher capacities deployed on international routes by carriers like IndiGo and Vistara; slower recovery in capacity deployment by some foreign carriers; reduction in flights by various North American carriers to avoid Russian airspace due to the Ukraine war; and stringent travel-related curbs in China, which were relaxed only recently.

Of the six Indian carriers with sizable international operations, four saw an expansion: IndiGo, Vistara, Air India, and Go First. The market share of SpiceJet and Air India Express contracted.

Interestingly, IndiGo, Vistara, and Go First, apart from expanding their market share, carried more passengers on international flights in the December quarter than they did three years ago. Air India, while clocking a slightly higher market share, carried fewer international passengers than it did in October-December 2019.

Market leader IndiGo’s share expanded to 15.6 per cent in the December quarter from 12.8 per cent three years back and it carried an additional 1.54 lakh passengers on international flights.

Vistara’s market share rose to 2.6 per cent from 0.6 per cent, and it ferried 2.74 lakh more passengers. Go First’s market share expanded slightly — to 2.4 per cent from 2 per cent — and its international passenger count was higher by around 15,000. Air India’s market share improved to 12.5 per cent from 11.5 per cent, but passenger count declined by around 81,000. SpiceJet’s market share contracted to 3.5 per cent from 5 per cent, with the airline ferrying 3.12 lakh fewer international passengers.

Experts said this surge is mostly in the short-haul international segment, particularly in case of IndiGo. “If you talk about international traffic, you see that our carriers are mostly feeder carriers (for other global airlines), except for a little bit of widebody operations by Air India and Vistara. The fact is that an airline like IndiGo is carrying low-value passengers. But the big network carriers are doing long-haul flights, which are high-value,” a senior industry executive said.

Among foreign carriers, Emirates continued to command the highest market share, improving slightly. The Dubai-based airline accounted for a 9.5 per cent share in passengers flying into and out of India in October-December, a tad higher than 9.1 per cent three years ago. Emirates, however, carried 1.20 lakh fewer passengers as compared to the December quarter of 2019. Singapore Airlines also clocked higher market share at 4 per cent, up from 2.8 per cent three years ago, and ferried an additional 1.26 lakh passengers.

Because of Covid curbs in China and Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific saw a significant contraction in market share: 2.5 per cent to 0.4 per cent. Other overseas carriers that saw a notable decline in passengers ferried into and out of India included Oman Air, Abu Dhabi’s Etihad, SriLankan Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, Thai Airways, and Germany’s Lufthansa.