HITS AND MISSES OF AVIATION SECTOR IN 10 YRS

IndiGo and Air India are two major players; other airlines together hold 11% mkt share

- ARSHAD KHAN

Witnessing Consolidation Kingfisher Airlines grounded on October 20, 2012 Jet Airways grounded on April 17, 2019 GoFirst grounded on May 3,2023 Despite a lengthy bankruptcy process, Jet Airways 2.0 is yet to take off and hopes of Go First revival have crashed ARSHAD KHAN New Delhi WHEN Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA came to power in 2014, domestic aviation industry was reeling under severe pressure following the grounding of Kingfisher Airlines. Huge losses, piling debts, employee protests and promoter Vijay Mallya fleeing to the United Kingdom made all the wrong headlines for the sector.

Against the backdrop, another private airline - Spicejet was facing turbulence as its new promoter - media baron Kalanidhi Maran realised why many billionaires avoid owning an airline. In less than a year since the new government came into power, SpiceJet was sold back to Ajay Singh.

Fast forward to 2024 and the sector is yet out of the woods. In the last 5 years, two major airlines Jet Airways and Go First succumbed to financial woes while many smaller players vanished in the covid 19 pandemic.

The big change for the industry, however, has been the privatisation of Air India and the emergence of two strong players. Having made combined orders of more than 1100 planes, the Tata Group-led Air India and Interglobe Aviation (IndiGo) have set ambitions to define the world's fastest-growing aviation market.

10% CAGR in 10 years

India's aviation industry has witnessed a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10% in domestic passenger traffic in the last 10 years i.e. between FY2014 and FY2024. This growth was supported by a growing economy, improvement in infrastructure and connectivity to regional centres. The number of operational airports doubled from 74 in 2014 to 148 in April 2023.