India’s domestic air passenger traffic witnessed a notable surge, rising by 6.12% to 16.13 crore in 2024, up from 15.2 crore the previous year, according to recent data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
The country’s commercial airlines saw significant activity in December 2024, flying over 1.49 crore passengers on domestic routes—an 8.19% increase compared to December 2023’s 1.38 crore passengers.
Market share data for December revealed IndiGo as the dominant player with a 64.4% share, followed by Air India at 26.4%. Akasa Air and SpiceJet captured 4.6% and 3.3% of the market, respectively. IndiGo’s share of domestic air passenger traffic grew from 60.5% in 2023 to 61.9% in 2024, flying 9.99 crore passengers. In contrast, SpiceJet’s share decreased from 5.5% to 3.7%, with the budget carrier transporting 60 lakh passengers within India in 2024.
On-time performance (OTP) for December saw IndiGo leading with a 73.4% OTP, followed by Air India (67.6%), Akasa Air (62.7%), SpiceJet (61.5%), and Alliance Air (55.6%). The overall flight cancellation rate for scheduled domestic carriers stood at 1.07%, affecting 67,622 passengers, with airlines disbursing Rs 1.26 crore in compensation and facilities. Additionally, 2.8 lakh passengers were impacted by flight delays, leading to Rs 3.78 crore in facilitation payouts.
In December, 2,147 passengers were denied boarding, resulting in airlines spending Rs 1.76 crore in compensation and facilities.
Airlines are ramping up their fleets and expanding networks to cater to the growing demand for air travel in India, one of the world’s fastest-growing civil aviation markets. The Air India Group currently operates around 300 commercial planes and anticipates its fleet size to grow to approximately 400 commercial planes within the next three years.
