Air India's future market share depends on aviation sector's probabilities

Its aim for a third of the domestic market by 2027 is contingent on a host of factors, many of them outside its control

Air India’s plan to increase its domestic market share from 8.5 per cent currently to 30 per cent in the next five years is contingent on various factors — including probable merger of all Tata Group’s airlines, speed of airport infrastructure growth, load factors in forward cabins, and growth of new airline Akasa Air and revamped Jet Airways.

The Tata Group took control of Air India on January 27. A decision regarding merging Vistara — which is a 51:49 joint venture of the Tata Group and Singapore Airlines — with Air India is yet to be taken.

Meanwhile, Tata-owned carrier