Emirates flew more persons in and out of India than Air India

NEW DELHI: In a development that could be of serious concern to Indian carriers, Dubai-based Emirates flew more international travellers in and out of India than Air India in 2011-12, according to official data.
Jet Airways, however, grabbed a little more of the market share than Emirates when it came to international air traffic emanating out of India.
While Emirates cornered over 13% of the total market share of India, flying 45.32 lakh passengers in and out of the country in 2011-12, Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express jointly carried 41.38 lakh passengers or 11.9%, the data showed.
The global market share of Jet Airways was 15.7% as the private carrier flew 54.53 lakh travellers during the period. Other Indian carriers like Kingfisher Airlines, which was flying then, had a market share of 3.2%, IndiGo had 1.2%, SpiceJet 0.86% and JetLite 0.3%. Industry sources said the trend, which continued in the past year, is likely to go on till Indian carriers match the Gulf carrier’s route network.
In the same period, no other global carrier was in double-digits in terms of market share, with two more Gulf carriers — Qatar Airways and Air Arabia — being in the second and third places with 4.4% and 4.3% respectively. German airline Lufthansa was in the fourth place with 3.4%, while another Gulf carrier Oman Airways took the fifth place with 2.8% market share. British Airways was the sixth with 2.7%, Sri Lankan Airways occupied the seventh spot (2.5%) and Cathay Pacific in the eighth (2.1%) place.
While 2011-12 was a tough period for Indian carriers, Air India, which saw a 10-day pilots strike in 2011 and another 58-day strike in 2012, has since tried to gear up its Gulf connectivity to regain its market share.