Spicejet overtakes Bluedart to become second largest cargo carrier while Indigo still leads

November 5, 2019: Even when the numbers of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) showed a 5.3 percent decrease in the country’s total freight volume in August 2019 compared to the same month last year, Indigo, SpiceJet and GoAir continued to grow while Bluedart and Air India hold on.

For the month of August 2019 Indigo still leads with a 32.8 percent market share in the domestic air freight compared to 22.2 percent in August 2018, while Spicejet overtook Bluedart to become the second-largest freight carrier in India.

SpiceJet grabs a 17.9 percent market in August 2019 compared to 11.8 a year ago, while Bluedart posses 17.4 percent compared to 16.9 percent in the same period. GoAir also registered a steady growth to 13.9 percent compared to 9.7 percent, while Air India slipped to 9.4 percent in August this year from 9.7 percent last year.

“There is a slowdown in the economy; industries are trying to control costs; people are trying to shift themselves to other options like ground express cargo which may have contributed to the decrease in freight traffic,” said Prateek Kumar, an analyst with Antique Stock Broking.

“Bluedart is the only air cargo service that offers next day delivery. But the people are not aligned to this timely service due to slow down and cost cuts. So the shift is clear to less expensive Indigo who may not be able to provide a next day delivery as they don’t have any only-for-cargo aircraft,” Kumar added.

A report published by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) says, “During the month of August 2019, Indian airports handled 217.12 thousand aircraft movements, 28.78 million passengers and 288.53 thousand tonnes of freight. The aircraft movements and passengers have increased by 0.4 and 2.8 percent respectively while the freight has decreased by 5.3 percent during August 2019 over August 2018”

The study also reports a 4.7 percent decrease in freight traffic in the period of April-August in 2019 compared to the same period last year. The domestic market handled 1423.74 thousand tonnes of freight in these five months.