From being the second largest domestic carrier last July, debt-laden Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) finds itself at the bottom of the pack. Its marketshare touched a new low of 6.4% in March making the Vijay Mallya-owned carrier the smallest scheduled airline in terms of marketshare.
KFA had a marketshare of 19% in July last year. The capital-starved airline hasn’t ever made profits since its inception in 2005.
Accumulated losses have left the company heavily indebted and requiring urgent recapitalisation to support its ongoing operations. It owes money to lessors, suppliers, lenders, airline partners, employees, oil companies, airports and the tax department.
The biggest gainer of the KFA crisis has been Jet Airways, which along with its low-cost subsidiary JetLite, had a marketshare of 29.2% in March. It was followed by IndiGo whose marketshare stood at 21.9%. Jet and IndiGo together have more than 50% share of the domestic market.
“Jet Airways has gained significantly because of KFA’s downsizing in yields but marginally in volumes,” said Kapil Kaul, South Asia chief executive officer of aviation consultancy firm Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation’s. “IndiGo has gained but marginal.”Government-owned Air India had a 17.9% share, SpiceJet 17.1% and GoAir 7.5%.