Air India boosts market share for second straight month
21 Sep 2011
New Delhi: Beleaguered state-owned carrier, Air India, managed to claw back some of its lost passenger market share in August, posting a second straight month of increase. The flag carrier ended the month with a 17.4% passenger share, up from 16.5% in July.
Its market share had slid to a low of 13.2% in May.
Its strategy of pricing tickets even cheaper than those of low-fare carriers would partly account for the growth in numbers.
According to data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Tuesday, India's domestic airline market expanded 18.6% in August, with about 4.78 million passengers flying in the month compared with 3.98 million a year ago.
However, its market share for August this year is nearly a full percentage point behind the same period last year when it accounted for 18.3%.
In market share it stands fifth behind Jet Airways (India) Ltd, Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, IndiGo and SpiceJet Ltd.
