Asian stock indices are lower today as Japanese and Hong Kong shares fall. The Nikkei 225 is off 0.31% while the Hang Seng is down 1.05%. The Shanghai Composite is trading is trading down by 0.4%. US stocks sank yesterday, with the S&P 500 stumbling to its biggest single-day loss in about three weeks, as investors weighed fresh tensions with North Korea.

Back home, share markets in India have opened the day on a negative note. The BSE Sensex is trading lower by 184 points while the NSE Nifty is trading lower by 56 points. The BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap index opened the day down by 0.6% & 0.4% respectively.

Barring consumer durables stocks, all sectoral indices have opened the day in red with stocks from healthcare sectorand realty sector leading the losses. The rupee is trading at 64.12 to the US$.

In the news from aviation sector. Livemint reported that InterGlobe Aviation Ltd-run IndiGo may consider investing in Jet Airways (India) if it fails to acquire a stake in Air India.

The company is convinced there is an opportunity for a large India-based airline with a significant international footprint.

One must note that, IndiGo was the first to send in its interest in Air India to the government, the day the latter decided to sell a stake in the state-run airline.

India’s aviation industry is on a high-growth trajectory. India’s domestic air passenger traffic has almost doubled in the past six years on the back of strong economic growth and emergence of low-fare airlines.

Indian carriers have now set their sights on International traffic. Indian carriers have been slowly increasing their market share. It is important to note that foreign carriers still dominate international traffic to and from India.

Domestic Airlines Fly High in Foreign Skies

As per the report by rating agency ICRA, the share of domestic airlines in India’s international traffic increased from 30.1% in FY14 to 35.1% in FY17.