SpiceJet overtakes Air India as the third largest domestic carrier in February - Economic Times

NEW DELHI: Even as the market continued to shrink, budget airline SpiceJet overtook Air India as the thirdlargest domestic carrier by market share in February, on back of its Big Sale scheme that offered a million air tickets at Rs 2,013 apiece. The scheme helped ensnare a portion of Jet Airways and Air India fliers. According to latest figures by the aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation ( DGCA), SpiceJet flew 20.4% of domestic passengers in February against 18.4% in January. Air India's market share dipped from 20.3% to 18.9% and Jet Airways' from 20% to 19.1% in February. Air India, however, seems unfazed by the loss as the state-run airline believes it would be unsustainable for the private airline to maintain its lead through discount offers. "We are aware that there is a market share shift due to SpiceJet's offer in January and we don't think it is sustainable," a senior Air India executive said. "Market share can always be bought by offering low prices. IndiGo joined SpiceJet's offer for one-and-a-half days and we didn't, so their market share remains untouched. We are fairly pleased with our February and March performance. You'll see a similar shift in favour of Jet Airways in March as they too floated a similar discount scheme," the Air India executive added. ET could not reach SpiceJet for its reaction. Low-cost carrier IndiGo maintained its lead at 27.4% market share in February while Jet Airways and Jet Lite combined carried 25.4% passengers. Meanwhile, the total number of domestic fliers carried by local airlines dipped to 4.89 million, a reduction of close to 5% compared with 5.13 million passengers in January 2013. Download ET's mobile applications for iPad, iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Nokia and Windows Phone to track news as it happens, live stock quotes, monitor portfolio, get market stats like gainers, losers and movers & much more. To check out free Economic Times apps , Click here SpiceJet has overtaken AI as the third largest domestic carrier in Feb, flying a fifth of total Indian passengers on the back of its 'Big Sale' scheme offering million air tickets at Rs 2,013, apiece. via Business - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNF5eFH-cdcHKaeehiodeEl9Q-zOBA&url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/spicejet-overtakes-air-india-as-the-third-largest-domestic-carrier-in-february/articleshow/19308590.cms

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