Foreign airline competition impacts Air India; Indian LCCs expand internationally

Nearly one-third of the 32 million international passengers travelling to/from India in 2009/10 travelled on international carriers, leveraging sixth freedom rights, with only a third of current weekly seats and ASKs deployed international from India being operated by Indian carriers. Carriers such as Emirates, Lufthansa, British Airways, Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines have successfully expanded in the Indian market, often at the expense of local carriers, and offering onward connections via their respective hubs to destinations in US and Europe, currently underserved by the local airlines.

In the Comptroller and Auditor General of India's (CAG) report on Air India released in Sep-2011, it was noted the percentage of sixth freedom carriage in 2009/10 of total passengers carried was as high as 59% for Emirates, 78% for Qatar Airlines, 87% for Lufthansa, 49% for Singapore Airlines and 61% for British Airways. These five carriers together hold a 23.4% capacity (ASKs) share of international services to/from India. [2905 words]

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This report contains the following subheadings:

• CAG expresses concern about ‘one sided’ nature of India’s bilateral policy
• International travel market entering new phase of growth with LCC operations
• IndiGo commences international services
• SpiceJet applies for 10 additional international routes. Six international routes at present
• Air India Express – the largest Indian international LCC
• Jet Airways notes global push to LCCs
• Indian LCCs expanding internationally and changing the market dynamics

This report contains the following charts and tables:

• India capacity (ASKs per week) by carrier: 03-Oct-2011 to 09-Oct-2011
• India capacity (seats per week) by carrier: 03-Oct-2011 to 09-Oct-2011
• Top 15 airlines operating between Asia Pacific and India (international seats): week ended 09-Oct-2011
• Airlines operating between Middle East and India (international seats): week ended 09-Oct-2011
• IndiGo’s launch of international destinations and competitors
• SpiceJet (scheduled), IndiGo, GoAir, JetLite, Kingfisher, Jet Airways and Air India international networks: Oct-2011