Kingfisher cedes No 2 position to IndiGo

New Delhi: With mass cancellations spread through the month of November liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya's cash-strapped Kingfisher Airline has lost its number two position in the domestic aviation stakes. Worse, his carrier is now just nominally ahead of Air India in market share by a meagre margin of 0.1% points.

According to latest DGCA figures, low cost carrier IndiGo had a market share of 19.6% in the domestic market in October and Kingfisher's share fell by almost two points to 16.7% - just 0.1% ahead of Air India (domestic)'s 16.6%.

The Jet Airways -JetLite combine remained the market leader with a combined share of 24.8%. However, as an individual airline IndiGo's market share of 19.6% was higher than Jet Airways' 17.6%.

Added to JetLite's 7.2%, Jet's share makes Goyal the market leader in October.

With IndiGo raising capacity by adding planes to its fleet and registering very high load factors, it has now surpassed Kingfisher.

Meanwhile, Kingfisher CEO Sanjay Aggarwal met the director general of civil aviation, Bharat Bhushan, on Saturday to explain his carrier's future course of action.

Aggarwal confirmed that the carrier was cancelling 50 to 55 flights but said these would be restored over the next three to four months. He also said the carrier would induct one aircraft on 12 December and perhaps return a few whose lease was getting over and whose renewal depended on the carrier being offered a good deal.