The recent decline in air traffic was supposed to have eased congestion and made for faster turnarounds, but the fall in passenger traffic has been so steep and has created such a mismatch between demand and supply that airlines have had to cut capacity frantically.

According to statistics from the ministry of civil aviation, LCCs have accounted for more than 60 per cent of the total capacity reduction, which started from June.

The recent alliance between Jet and Kingfisher brings further bad news for low-cost carriers. Already, there are concerns that the alliance, accounting for 60 per cent of the market, would hold sway over the key slots, leaving only crumbs for the others.

The Kingfisher-Kingfisher Red combine has a 40-45 per cent share of flights in Bangalore-connected sectors (Bangalore-Mumbai, Bangalore-Hyderabad). It has a huge advantage in key flight slots out of Bangalore. Jet-JetLite controls 40-45 per cent of the key business class slots on the Mumbai-Delhi sector, the largest revenue contributing route in the country.

It is not as if the international low-cost carriers are not affected. Europe’s biggest budget airline, RyanAir, has warned that its profits could fall by up to 50 per cent next year due to high oil prices, declining consumer spending, and the weakening pound. The Dublin-based company has said that its fuel bill had soared by 93 per cent in the first quarter and has come to represent almost half of its operating costs, up from 36 per cent last year, a scenario very similar to Indian carriers’.

Some say a flight without food will anyway totter in India, where the average flying time is an hour and a half, unlike Europe, a fertile ground for low-cost aviation, where it is an hour. Still, it may not be curtains. Says Kapil Kaul, CEO, Indian subcontinent, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation: "The middle class still wants low fares, especially since the other modes of transport like road and rail are not as developed."

Besides, the value carrier model has not exactly taken off in a blaze of glory. JetLite has reported a Rs 273 crore loss in July-September this year. Its PLF in the quarter was 61.2 per cent; the breakeven point is 103 per cent.

Gopinath is emphatic that there is nothing wrong with the LCC model, considering the low level of air travel penetration in the country.

The right way, he says, is to expand and keep fares low. As the passenger load factor rises, the costs will get spread over the larger number of passengers carried. The Captain, as Gopinath is known, is sticking to his guns. Somehow, he could not hold on to his airline.