New Delhi: Private players have grabbed a tenth of India's aviation turbine fuel (ATF) market, helped by strong client outreach and an expanded supply network.

Reliance-BP and Shell-MRPL , the two private sector joint ventures, have made extraordinary gains in a year, taking their combined market share in the ATF market to 10.3% in April from 6.3% in the same month last year, according to industry data.

Their combined share was 6.5% in April 2022.

Agencies The market share gains have been driven by an 84% year-on-year increase in their sales volume in April.

For state-run ATF suppliers who have dominated the sector since the beginning, the sales growth was 8.3%, lower than the industry average of 13% in April.

This helped contract the state-run companies ' share in ATF sales to 89.7% from 93.7%. Reliance-BP's share expanded to 6.8% in April from 3.8% in the same month last year while Shell-MRPL's grew to 3.5% from 2.5%. Reliance-BP operates 31 aviation fuel stations while Shell-MRPL has about 10 stations, according to the oil ministry data.

Both operators are present at all the key airports in the country.

RIL's refinery in Jamnagar supplies ATF to the RIL-BP network while MRPL's refinery in Mangalore does so to its joint venture with Shell.

State-run oil companies have about 250 aviation fuel stations, with Indian Oil accounting for half.

Open access at most airports has directly helped private players enhance their presence in the ATF market.

Open access lets private players use existing infrastructure built by state firms for a fee. This gives them a level playing field to which they add attractive supply terms to lure airlines.

The downstream regulator has proposed turning all existing and future jet fuel pipelines into common carriers .