GoAir now India’s third-largest domestic operator

GoAir is India’s third-largest domestic airline this winter, up by one place year-on-year.

This is from the decline of Air India, which was third. Its winter 2020 capacity fell by 46% against 19% for GoAir.  As always, this says nothing of loads, yields, or financial performance.

Delhi is GoAir’s top airport this winter, with just over a one-third share of the carrier’s total seat capacity.  This has more than doubled since winter 2011, with its network there growing from 16 routes to 26.

The interplay with Mumbai is intriguing.  

GoAir now has 31 routes from Mumbai and is its third-largest domestic carrier.  Mumbai now has lowest capacity gap with Delhi since the latter overtook it in winter 2016. 

Ahmedabad is one such ‘winner’ of GoAir’s network diversification.  Pre-coronavirus, it was only one of four airports system-wide to pass one million seats.  Its network has reached 16, up from five in W16.

Now, Ahmedabad is now GoAir’s fourth-largest airport with 14% of the airline’s winter 2020 seats.  It has grown strongly: up by 649% since winter 2011 and a CAGR of 22%. 

Go Air has direct competition on all of its 106 domestic routes this winter. 

It competes directly with IndiGo on all routes, such is the challenge posed within the country.

It also competes head-to-head with SpiceJet on 69 routes, Air India on 64, AirAsia India on 42, and Vistara on 34.

Delhi features seven times in Go Air’s top-10 routes.  Its second-thickest, the 857-kilometre service from Delhi to Patna, now has five carriers.  Go Air is marginally behind IndiGo. 

Patna is now the operator’s sixth-largest airport, with just over half-a-million seats. This is mainly the airport declining by only 3% this winter – against nearly one-quarter for the carrier’s top-10 airports.

The introduction of Chennai – Patna in late 2020 helped, as did slight increases from Mumbai and Kolkata.