Latest data from India Civil Aviation confirms that the once mighty Kingfisher is now fully marginalized in India’s domestic aviation.
DELHI- In May 2009, the rise of Mumbai-based Kingfisher Airlines seemed unstoppable. During that month, the carrier achieved a market share of 25% in domestic air transport in India, a first in India aviation since deregulation. This magic number put then the airline of liquor Mogul Vijay Mallya in first position in India.
Since November 2011, it is however a complete other story. The carrier has been trying to survive in a tough environment. Kingfisher is paying the price to a combination of heavy domestic competition, rising fuel prices, high taxes at Indian airports and over all, an overambitious growth strategy. After being rumoured of declaring bankruptcy in early March, the carrier managed to survive. At the end of March, India Civil Aviation regulators declared that they would not cancel the flying license of debt-ridden Kingfisher following the presentation of a restructuring and revival strategy by the airline’s CEO. Kingfisher never managed to write a profit since 2005.
Last spring, the airline cancelled all of its international operations to its eight destinations which included Bangkok, Colombo, Dubai, Hong Kong, Kathmandu and London. It also sharply reduced its volume of traffic on domestic routes, by cutting 60 flights including Delhi-Calcutta.
Last Wednesday, Kingfisher Airlines announced that it had also returned 32 aircraft as those were not required under its truncated schedule of operation. “There has been no forced return of aircraft to lessors. We voluntarily returned aircraft in surplus to our needs,” declared a Kingfisher Airlines official to local media.
The airline now operates only a fleet of 13 aircraft. By comparison, it still had a fleet of 64 aircraft in November 2011 and 87 aircraft in 2009. In financial year 2011, the carrier transported 10.91 million passengers. For the first four months of 2012, total passengers reached only 1.68 million.
Indian DGCA released that in May 2012, Kingfisher’s passengers’ market share was consequently down to only 5.2% of all scheduled domestic traffic in the country. For now three consecutive months, Kingfisher is the smallest of all seven domestic carriers in India when passengers’ traffic is taken into account.
Meanwhile, competitor IndiGo saw its market share rise almost by three percentage points to reach in May 24.9%. Jet Airways and its low cost affiliate Jetlite reach a combined market share of 27.9%.
Table: Evolution of Kingfisher share in India’s domestic passengers market (Financial Year, in %)
(Source: DGCA)
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
