Jet Airways losing ground among international fliers

Jet Airways| RS 4,244 crore loss (Image: Reuters)

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26 Aug, 2025 12:21

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Jet Airways, the troubled airline, has not just lost share in domestic market, but also among international fliers. Numbers reveal that the company’s share in international market out of India has dropped in the last one year.

The biggest gainer is IndiGo, which has already become a dominant player in the domestic market.

Statistics from aviation regulator DGCA reveal that Jet Airways' share in the international passenger traffic from India dropped to 13.9 percent in the first three months of 2018, compared to 14.5 percent in the same period in 2017.

On the other hand, share of IndiGo – which has been eating into the business of its peers in the domestic market — has risen to 5.8 percent in the January to March period, from 4 percent a year ago.

The loss among international fliers will hurt Jet Airways particularly because for years now the overseas market has been an area of focus for the Naresh Goyal-owned company. Its partnership with Etihad Airways, which owns 24 percent in Jet Airways, was supposed to help improve the Indian airline’s showing.

The setback in international market has happened even as Jet Airways struggles to hold on to its market among domestic fliers. It hasn’t worked yet.

By the end of June this year, Jet Airways' domestic share had come down to 13.9 percent, from 15.4 percent at the end of 2017.

Its low-cost arm Jet Lite also saw its market share fall to 1.6 percent at the end of June, from 2.4 percent at the end of December, 2017.

The erosion will increase the pressure on Jet Airways, which has been fire-fighting after two straight quarters of huge losses. The airline suffered a loss of Rs 1,326 crore in the first quarter of the 2018 financial year. This came after a Rs 1,045-crore loss in the fourth quarter of the last FY.

International woes

Jet Airways may find solace from a similar erosion of market share in its peer Air India. The national airline saw its share in the international market out of India going down to 10.5 percent from 10.7 percent.

Overall, Indian airlines are losing ground - though little by little – to their international peers. Numbers from DGCA shows that Indian carriers had a share of 60.4 percent in the international market in the January-March period, down from 61.5 percent a year earlier. Foreign carriers had a share of 39.6 percent.

For Jet, the international business is important as it brings in 53.6 percent of its revenues (as per first quarter numbers). Though the share in revenue has reduced from 54.8 percent in the first quarter of the last financial year, international markets are critical for the airline.

The first quarter results were a mixed in the international front. Even as passenger revenue increased, Jet Airways flew fewer passengers in the April-June quarter. It flew 1.99 million passengers in the first quarter of the present financial year, as compared to 2.01 million in the same period a year ago.