The data from the DGCA was not very encouraging for the aviation sector, especially the listed companies – Spicejet and Indigo.

The DGCA reported that in Dec’19, the sector grew at the slowest in Q3 – the number of passengers flying rose 2.6% (YoY) and much down from Nov growth of 11.2%.

In terms of airlines, IndiGo’s air passenger grew slowest in last 2 years at 13% while Spicejet grew 37% - better than Indigo but this was its slowest month in Q3. \

Passenger Load Factor (PLF) or percentage of seats filled for Indigo was at 90.1%, down 120 bps (YoY) and it was flat for Spicejet at 92.7%.

Market share of Spicejet rose to a 5-year high at 16.5%.

Following this news, Indigo, though it opened higher it soon fell 3% to Rs.1427; it has recovered to Rs.1453 levels but remains pretty much in the red. Spicejet did not fall as much though it too remains in the red, going down 1% to Rs.101.40.