GoAir: the dark horse in Indian Aviation Market, by Travel Radar Correspondent Ankur Deo

GoAir, the fourth largest Indian carrier, has quite been the dark horse in the race to expand far and wide, being mostly shadowed by the larger Indigo Airlines and recently emerging SpiceJet. GoAir will soon be starting routes with daily flights to Abu Dhabi (AUH), Dubai (DXB), Muscat(MCT), Bangkok(BKK), Kuwait (KWI) from different Indian cities such as Mumbai(BOM),  New Delhi(DEL) and Kannur(CNN), whereas other routes are already on the airline’s network other than different domestic cities.

“These planned launches will strengthen GoAir’s presence in the Middle East and South East Asian countries. The network expansion is in sync with our vision to expand out footprint in strategic markets and to grow our business profitably,” said Jeh Wadia, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of GoAir.

Image Credits: GoAir

In lieu with these expansion plans, in October this year, GoAir invited bids from Airbus and Boeing for 20 wide body aircraft and 200 narrow body ones. Just in last two years, GoAir has doubled its fleet to 53 aircraft and operates nearly 325 flights daily. Currently, GoAir has 144 Airbus A320neo aircraft on order, with 37 of these already being in operation.

“The induction of twin aircraft in the GoAir fleet is in sync with our strategy of aggressive growth and expansion of our network. Our plan is to add at least one aircraft on average every month,” Jeh Wadia said.

GoAir had a market share of 11.8% in the domestic market in August 2019, while it was 8.7% at the start of the year. Of course, the folding of Jet Airways and weakening of Air India has proven beneficial for GoAir, but these figures definitely look promising for the airline nonetheless! Plans of fleet expansion are being worked out ahead of a possible initial public offering by the airline. The Wadia group-owned airline has been in talks with merchant banks over the past few months but has not formally announced any concrete plans. 

All in all, GoAir seems to have found the right tune to expand sustainably after struggling for the first few years to hold ground. With new aircraft and new routes being planned, we hope to see the airline reach new heights in months to come! We would love to hear your thoughts about GoAir’s performance and plans in the comments!

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