Raise share in domestic market, Ajit Singh tells Air India

Union civil aviation minister Ajit Singh on Tuesday asked Air India (AI) to enhance its share in the domestic passenger market, even as domestic air passenger traffic fell 3.70 percent for the fourth straight month in August.

The civil aviation ministry in a press release said the minister has asked AI to submit a detailed plan which would include month-wise targets of market share along with corresponding strategy to achieve these targets for the next one year.

The ministry said that while noting that the share of AI in the domestic passengers carried by Indian Schedule Airlines has been maintained at 18.2% (same as for July 2012), the minister has emphasised that a number of efforts have to be made by AI to regain its number one position in terms of market share. “He (Singh) has asked Air India to come out with innovative and customer-focused strategies to achieve optimum utilisation of all planes and also maximum utilisation of each plane,” the ministry said.

Meanwhile, domestic air passenger traffic fell 3.70 percent for the fourth straight month in August, which stood at 43.69 lakh from 45.37 lakh travelers in July, official data showed on Tuesday. The trend started in May during which passenger traffic came down by 0.87 percent and stood at 54.48 lakh from 54.96 lakh carried in the corresponding month of 2011. June recorded a substantial fall of 3.84 percent at 51.08 lakh from 53.12 lakh in the corresponding month of 2011.

However, sectoral analysts say that a negative passenger growth rate is affected by seasonal factor. “There is no reason for alarm. This is a lean period for air traveller not just this year but it happens every year,” Amber Dubey, partner and head-aviation at global consultancy KPMG.  On a standalone basis, IndiGo had the largest market share of 27.6%, followed by Jet Airways at 18.7%, Air India at 18.2%, SpiceJet at 18.5% and JetLite at 6.5%.