May was the month when we saw Go First shut down, and they haven’t been back ever since (to date). The loss of Go First was the gain of other airlines across India, and we saw the numbers from the Indian regulator, DGCA, reiterating the fact.

India witnesses the highest-ever domestic traffic.

1.32 Crore (13.2 million) passengers across India took to the skies in May 2023. These are non-unique passengers, so it accounts for the same people travelling again and again as well. With these numbers coming in, you can expect more airport crowds.

IndiGo gets 61.4% Marketshare

IndiGo, already the market leader, raced past the 60% mark again. From a 57.5% market share in April’23, IndiGo went up to a 61.4% market share in May’23, their highest-ever market share. Other major airlines gained market share, too, on a month-on-month basis, except SpiceJet.

• AirAsia India: 7.9% (+0.3%)
• Air India: 9.4% (+0.8%)
• Akasa: 4.8% (+0.8%)
• Go First: 0.4% (-6%)
• IndiGo: 61.4% (+3.9%)
• SpiceJet: 5.4% (-0.4%)
• Vistara: 9% (+0.3%)

Summer destinations stayed expensive

With schools shut and Go First shut simultaneously, the holiday season meant people paid more for their last-minute tickets. For instance, in the Delhi-Leh/Leh-Delhi sectors, where Go First was a big player, Air India sold 8.23% of their total seats in the highest fare brackets, earning them 20.95% of revenue in the sector from the high fare.

Similarly, on Delhi-Srinagar/Srinagar-Delhi, Air India sold 4% of seats on the highest fare bracket, earning 9.5% of the revenue via high tickets. Their sister carrier Vistara also earned 11% of the revenue on the highest fare bracket. IndiGo sold 10% of its seats in the highest bracket on the Mumbai – Srinagar route clocking 8.8% of its revenues. The report from DGCA, enclosed here, has more interesting data points.

Planes continue to be full.

I will just let the graph from the DGCA report do the talking. Essentially, like I keep saying to everyone who bothers to listen, airfares are high because planes are full. When someone will want to pay for their tickets last minute on an almost full aircraft, then obviously, the tickets will be expensive. This will continue till occupancy dips, which does not look like the case in our country of over 1.3 billion people yet.

Bottomline

Air traffic is getting to its highest numbers, and these numbers will only grow in the coming years as more people start to fly. However, airfares are expected to remain reasonable or high till the airfare wars don’t come out again. IndiGo is now at 60% plus market share.

What do you think of the growth of Indian domestic aviation?

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