Air India sees sharp drop in its share of domestic passengers for Q1

16 Apr 2008

New Delhi:  Amongst all domestic scheduled airlines, newly merged entity, Air India, has registered the sharpest drop in the number of domestic passengers flying with it during the first quarter of this calendar year, as compared to the same period last year.

The drop in numbers for the flag carrier comes at a time when domestic air traffic has grown by more than 11 per cent. All scheduled airlines have carried 1.12 crore passengers in the period  January-March 2008, as compared to just over 1 crore in the same period last year.

According to the latest data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Air India (domestic) carried almost 2.9 lakh fewer passengers during the first quarter of this year as compared to the previous year.

Amongst low-cost airlines, IndiGo doubled its share of the pie to 10.3 per cent, while SpiceJet's share touched 10.3 per cent (8.1 per cent).

In comparison, Air India saw its market share shrink to 14.7 per cent (19.2 per cent), while Jet Airways' fell marginally to 22.7 per cent (24.2 per cent) and JetLite dropped to 7.1 per cent (8.1 per cent) in the same period.