Go First’s insolvency is IndiGo’s gain as India’s largest carrier acquires huge 61% market share

The country’s largest airline by market share as well as fleet size, IndiGo, has gained the most from the suspension of Go First’s flights, revealed data from aviation regulator the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for May released on Thursday.

The Gurugram-headquartered IndiGo commanded a market share of 61.4 per cent in May as against 57.5 per cent for April. Mumbai-headquartered Go First had suspended flights on May 3 a day after announcing that it was filing for bankruptcy.

Launched in August 2006, the 17-year-old IndiGo with a fleet comprising over 300 Airbus and ATR72-600 turbo-prop aircraft carried 8.1 million passengers on domestic routes during the month.

The airline also did well when it came to operating flights on time, registering an on-time performance (OTP) of 90.3 per cent, which was second only to Vistara’s 92.6 per cent.

The share price of InterGlobe Aviation, IndiGo’s holding company, closed at Rs 2,419 on the BSE, gaining 2.65 per cent on the day.

Tata group carriers—Air India (9.4 per cent), AirAsia India (7.9 per cent) and Vistara (9.0 per cent)— also made a 1.4 per cent gain, to increase their market share to 26.3 per cent in May from 24.9 per cent April.

With a 4.8 per cent market share for the month as against 4 per cent in April, the country’s newest scheduled carrier Akasa Air registered gains despite its as yet limited fleet size.

Regional carrier Alliance Air also gained marginally, recording a market share of 1.4 per cent as against 1.1 per cent in April.

However, low-cost carrier SpiceJet, which has a significant part of its fleet grounded at this point, continued losing market share, with the May figure coming in at 5.4 per cent, against 5.8 per cent in April.