Domestic Airlines

The burgeoning numbers of the domestic and international air travelers in India has led to significant growth in the aviation sector. Rapid economic growth of the country, ease of travel due to availability of the infrastructural facilities, increase in disposable incomes of households and the opening of the aviation sector to the private players have been the main reasons behind the growth of the civil aviation sector.

What was earlier the domain of the erstwhile Air India and Indian Airlines has now become the playground of a number of domestic airlines such as Indian (after merging Air India and Indian Airlines), Kingfisher, Kingfisher Red, Jetlite, Indigo, Jet Airways, Jagsons, SpiceJet, Paramount and others.

Some of these airlines operate both the international and domestic flights, while some others operate exclusively in the domestic sector. To serve the lower-order cities in the country and less popular air routes, there are budget domestic airlines which are fully owned subsidiaries of the major airlines serving the main cities of the country. Ever since the entry of private airlines, there has been massive competition among the airlines resulting in substantial lowering of passenger airfares on domestic air tickets and restructuring of airline businesses to bring more value added services and features to the domestic flights.