Aviation industry is marked with two airlines on the second position. Kingfisher and IndiGo airlines share same status with market share of 18.6% in December. The top most position is booked by Jet Airways with the market share of 25%.

About 147.05 lakh fliers were recorded in the fourth quarter of 2010, which are more than the prior three quarters of 2010, as per the data revealed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

December alone had shown a rise of 16% in the air traffic, taking Indigo ahead from Air India. With these figures Air India holds the third position in the market share with 25.89 lakh passengers.

Amber Dubey, director (Aerospace and Defence), global consultancy firm KPMG said that IndiGo has reached this position by following and maintaining the right fundamentals and if this airline continue to carry in this manner then it won't be surprised to see the low-cost carrier (LCC) at number one position.

Some other aviation experts hold another view point on the performance of IndiGo, they said that data released by DGCA only shows its OTP (on time performance), a measure of efficiency, as high as 85% for 2010 only. Another reason for reaching number two spot is its least cancellation rate for the entire year at 0.8%.

The DGCA figures also show that 2010 have shown a progress of 18.7% with 520.21 lakh passengers, with December contributing alone with the growth of 19% with 147.05 lakh passengers.

December alone has witnessed 52 lakh flying in the country and beaten the November record of RS48.7 lakh.

Aviation minister Praful Patel is very delighted with the data and said that India has the potential to become one of the leading aviation markets in the world in the coming years. The spark for growth in this industry arises due to intense competition and need of expansion in the infrastructure.

The only threat that is torturing the aviation industry is the hike in the fuel prices. Among increasing jet fuel prices, airlines have announced that fares will be increased to cover this expense and once again price sensitive people will prefer other modes of transport and aviation will suffer.