The strong economic recovery in the country has given Indians the licence to fly. March, a traditionally lean travel month due to exams, saw an impressive 21.2% growth in domestic air travel with 39 lakh fliers taking to skies compared to a figure of 32.2 lakh in the same period last year. The January-March quarter also saw a robust 20.5% growth,with 1.2 crore people flying within the country, while less than a crore flew in the same quarter of 2009. The growth since June 2009 (when the negative trend started reversing) was led mainly by budget flyers. The combined market share of pure LCCs (low-cost carriers) like IndiGo, SpiceJet, JetLite and Go Air is close to 40%. But that number inches up to 70% with legacy carriers like Jet and Kingfisher deploying almost 70-80% of their domestic fleet as budget brands like Jet Konnect and Kingfisher Red. National carrier Air India (domestic), with a 17.8% share, is the only airline without a domestic LCC and now finds leading budget carrier IndiGo snapping at its heels. However, March saw passenger load factors of airlines going down from the impressive 80-90% highs in the December to February quarter.
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