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WITH the economy back on the revival path, the number of passengers travelling by domestic commercial airlines went up by 7.9 per cent to 445.13 lakh in 2009 from 412.71 lakh in 2008, official data released on Wednesday shows. The civil aviation ministrys analysis of the capacity and demand data for the year 2009 vis- a- vis 2008 indicates that commercial airlines increased their capacity with effect from July last year. The data also suggests that demand has started increasing with effect from June, 2009 indicating better utilisation of seat capacity. However, according to a senior Jet Airways official, the airline is still going through a difficult phase as airfares continue to rule below the cost of operations.
The fierce competition among carriers is coming in the way of raising airfares to realistic levels. Unless air tickets are priced at more realistic levels airlines will not be able to turn the corner and emerge from the red, the official added.
Another factor preventing airlines from turning profitable is the high fuel cost, which accounts for 35 to 40 per cent of the cost of operations, he added. An analysis of the data on cancellation of flights, which throws travel plans in disarray, shows that over 40 per cent of the total flights cancelled during the year were for commercial reasons. Bad weather accounted for the cancellation of 23.9 per cent of the flights while the remaining 36 per cent flights were cancelled due to technical reasons.
The market share among domestic carriers during 2009 was: Air India ( domestic) 17.5 per cent, Jet Airways 17.9 per cent, JetLite 7.5 per cent, Kingfisher 23.9 per cent, SpiceJet 12.4 per cent, Paramount 1.9 per cent, GoAir 4.7 per cent and IndiGo 13.9 per cent. The total domestic passengers carried by the scheduled airlines of India in the month of December, 2009 were 44.87 lakh, which went up due to the holiday rush. This is 35 per cent higher than the number of passengers that travelled in the same month in 2008 when the economy was hit by the global financial crisis.
The seat factors of the domestic airlines in December, 2009 were: Air India ( domestic) 79.7 per cent, Jet Airways 78.2 per cent, JetLite 81.6 per cent, Kingfisher Airlines 80.2 per cent, SpiceJet 88 per cent, Paramount Airways 88.7 per cent, GoAir 86.1 per cent and IndiGo 90 per cent.
While domestic air traffic figures showed some signs of improvement at the end of 2009, the combined losses of all airlines crossed the Rs 8,000- crore mark.
Barring low- cost carriers IndiGo and Paramount, both of which operate small fleets, all scheduled airlines continued to post huge losses. Led by Air India, estimated to have notched up losses of about Rs 5,000 crore in 2008- 09, Kingfisher Airlines posted a loss of Rs 1,602 crore, Jet Airways- JetLite combine Rs 1,032 crore, SpiceJet Rs 352.50 crore and GoAir Rs 22.5 crore.
Air Indias financial troubles saw the government coming to its aid and allocating Rs 800 crore as the first tranche of equity infusion in the national carrier. It also approved a Jet Airways proposal to raise $ 400 million from foreign institutional investors ( FIIs).
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