Market Dominance or Market Distortion?

Did you know that in 2010, the Indian aviation sector actually looked like a market with choices?At that time, IndiGo held only 16.4% of the domestic market.The real giants were Jet Airways (including JetLite) and Kingfisher Airlines, which together controlled 47.1% of the skies.They were followed by Air India at 18.3%, SpiceJet at 13.0%, and GoAir at 5.2%.The important point is simple: no single airline was powerful enough to act without fear of competition.If one airline raised prices or reduced service quality, passengers could easily shift to another.Fast forward to 2025, and the picture changes completely.The earlier crowded sky now looks far emptier.IndiGo alone controls approximately 63.6% of the domestic aviation market.The remaining space is mostly occupied by the Air India Group (following its merger with Vistara) at 26.7%, while airlines like Akasa Air (4.7%) and SpiceJet (3.7%) survive on much smaller shares.Together, IndiGo and Air India control over 90% of the market.What was once a competitive race now feels more like a duopoly with limited room for rivals.This paper examines whether IndiGo's growing market share and influence in India's domestic aviation sector constitute mere market dominance or a distortion of competition that harms consumer welfare under the Competition Act, 2002.