 "Pilot shortage pulls down Akasa Air's market share to 4.2% in August")
Akasa Air’s domestic market share slipped to 4.2 per cent in August from July’s 5.2 per cent after it had to cancel flights after some of its pilots resigned to join rivals in the past few months.
The airline slid to the sixth spot, falling behind cash-strapped SpiceJet, in domestic airline market share, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data.
The airline, which commenced operations last year, had overtaken SpiceJet’s market share in June this year and held on to the position in July. . It ferried 527,000 and 624,000 passengers in August and July respectively. On the other hand, SpiceJet carried 541,000 and 504,000 passengers in the same period. Akasa Air did not respond to queries sent by Business Standard till press time
Meanwhile, Vistara experienced an uptick in its market share as compared to the previous month. The airline captured 9.8 per cent of the domestic aviation market compared to 8.4 per cent in July.
IndiGo maintained its lead as the country’s largest airline with a 63.3 per cent market share in August.
The market share of Air India and Vistara stood at 9.8 per cent each, with AirAsia India’s number coming in at 7.1 per cent in August. The combined market share of all the Tata Airlines-- Air India, Vistara and AirAsia India -- was pegged at 26.7 per cent during the same time.
Vistara topped the list of airlines in terms of occupancy as it registered a 91.3 per cent passenger load factor in August, according to the DGCA data. SpiceJet was ranked second with 90.9 per cent load factor. IndiGo, Air India and Akasa’s load factors were recorded at 83.6, 84.5, and 87.3 per cent, respectively.
Moreover, August recorded 12.4 million flyers, a 23 per cent increase in terms of domestic passengers as compared to the same month last year.
Snapshot of the Aviation Market
Market Share of Scheduled Domestic Airlines (in %)
July 2023
August 2023
Month-wise passenger load factor for airlines (in %)
Note: Go First ceased to operate from May 3, 2023
Source: DGCA