IndiGo is third largest passenger carrier

Jet Airways leads with 26.2%, followed by Kingfisher at 19.1%.

India’s largest low-cost carrier, IndiGo, has replaced the state carrier, Air India (domestic), to become the country’s third largest carrier in terms of passengers carried.

The overall passenger number for November grew by 25 per cent this year, compared with the corresponding month last year. The passenger figures for the month, released today by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), show Jet Airways leading with 26.2 per cent followed by Kingfisher at 19.1 per cent. IndiGo is third with 17.3 per cent of the total passengers, followed closely by Air India (domestic) at 17.1 per cent. SpiceJet and GoAir were on the fifth and sixth position, respectively, with 13.3 per cent and 6.9 per cent.

Analysts say IndiGo will continue to grow and the gap will widen. “The key to IndiGo’s growth has been aggressive expansion by maximum utilisation of its resources. The airline will continue to grow further,” said Kapil Kaul, head of Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation in India.

He said Air India needs to increase the utilisation of its aircraft to remain in the competition or it will get difficult for the airline.

IndiGo’s aircraft utilisation is 12 hours a day, whereas Air India’s is nine hours a day, which they are trying to increase. In November, IndiGo saw the highest passenger load factor (PLF) at 91 per cent, followed by GoAir at 85.4 per cent. Air India operated with the lowest PLF, at 76.9 per cent.

The overall passenger number for the month also grew by 25 per cent at 4.8 million from 3.9 million during the same month last year. During this period, 545 passengers were denied boarding and were compensated by paying Rs 16.20 lakh. Around 7,464 passengers were affected because of cancellation and were compensated by an amount of Rs 33.5 lakh.