India's airline industry is a mess. Taxesare sky-high, infrastructure is poor and profit margins are razor thin. Astring of carriers have gone out of business, and many others are struggling to stay afloat.
Yet the big winners might beprice-conscious consumers -- and any carrier strong enough to survive the pricewars that have made India the cheapest place to fly on Earth.
Consider this: In India, airlines charge anaverage $10.20 to travel 100 kilometers, according to a survey by Go Euro. Air travelers in China pay twice as much to go thesame distance, and Brazilians pay four times more. Even India's rail lines demand a higher price per kilometer.
The airlines would like to charge more, but they are locked in a race to capture market share -- sometimes operating flights at a loss. Even Air India, the state-owned recipient of seemingly endless bailouts, offers fares that would be more suited to a budget airline.
Helped along by pricing chaos, private carrier Kingfisher Airlines has gone out of business. The government was forcedlate last year to rescue SpiceJet, the country's third largest carrier.
由于定价混乱，私人的翠鸟航空公司已经倒闭。印度政府去年不得不救助该国第三大的香料航空公司。
In total, Indian airlines have reported accumulated losses of more than $10 billion in the last seven years and thereby increased their cumulative debt burden to $16 billion, according to a recent report by industry analytics firm Center for Aviation.