IndiGo tightens grip on domestic skies as Air India loses further market share in June
Domestic air passenger traffic slips 1% from May; SpiceJet records worst on-time performance with one in six flights delayed by over two hours.
India's domestic aviation market slowed in June, with passenger traffic declining by 1.03 per cent from the previous month, even as IndiGo tightened its grip on the sector by expanding its market share to 66.3 per cent. In contrast, the Air India Group lost further ground, with its share falling below 24 per cent, according to the latest Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) traffic report.
Domestic airlines carried 134.64 lakh passengers in June compared to 136.04 lakh in May. However, passenger traffic during the first six months of 2026 reached 864.04 lakh, registering a 1.44 per cent growth over the corresponding period last year.
The latest market share data underlined IndiGo's growing dominance. The airline increased its share from 64.9 per cent in May to 66.3 per cent in June. The Air India Group's market share dropped from 25.6 per cent to 23.9 per cent during the same period. Akasa Air improved its share to 6.4 per cent, while SpiceJet's share slipped to 1.9 per cent. Alliance Air accounted for 0.4 per cent, Fly91 for 0.4 per cent, Star Air 0.7 per cent, and IndiaOne Air remained marginal. For the January-June period, IndiGo commanded 64.3 per cent of the domestic market, followed by the Air India Group at 25.7 per cent and Akasa Air at 5.5 per cent.
Akasa Air continued to post the highest passenger load factor among scheduled domestic airlines at 92.2 per cent in June, indicating stronger seat occupancy. SpiceJet followed with 87.8 per cent, the Air India Group recorded 85.5 per cent, IndiGo 85.1 per cent, Star Air 75 per cent, Fly91 73.2 per cent, Alliance Air 61.7 per cent, and IndiaOne Air 59.3 per cent.
IndiGo also led the industry in operational performance, recording an on-time performance (OTP) of 89.4 per cent across the country's 10 busiest airports. The Air India Group followed at 85.9 per cent, Akasa Air at 82.7 per cent, Alliance Air at 74.7 per cent, while SpiceJet remained at the bottom with an OTP of just 33.5 per cent. Among airports, Chennai recorded the best OTP at 95.2 per cent, while Ahmedabad reported the lowest at 76.7 per cent.
The DGCA said 1.18 per cent of all scheduled domestic flights were delayed by more than two hours during June. SpiceJet recorded the highest proportion of such delays at 17.31 per cent, followed by Fly91 at 5.59 per cent, Alliance Air at 2.78 per cent, Air India Group at 1.25 per cent, Akasa Air at 0.87 per cent, Star Air at 0.83 per cent, while IndiGo reported the lowest at 0.55 per cent.
The regulator's analysis showed that reactionary delays, delays caused by aircraft arriving late from previous sectors, accounted for the largest share at 69 per cent. Technical issues and operational factors contributed 6 per cent each, while air traffic control, weather, passenger handling and airport-related reasons accounted for the remaining delays.
The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines stood at 0.63 per cent in June. IndiaOne Air recorded the highest cancellation rate at 16.43 per cent, followed by Alliance Air (6.23 per cent), Fly91 (6 per cent), Star Air (4.15 per cent), Air India Group (0.49 per cent), IndiGo (0.20 per cent) and Akasa Air (0.20 per cent). Technical issues accounted for 39.6 per cent of all cancellations, followed by operational reasons (36.3 per cent) and weather disruptions (20.3 per cent).
Domestic airlines received 2,568 passenger complaints during June, translating into 1.91 complaints per 10,000 passengers carried. Alliance Air recorded the highest complaint rate at 68.6 complaints per 10,000 passengers, followed by SpiceJet (3.4), Air India Group (3.2), Fly91 (3.2), Akasa Air (2.0), Star Air (1.1) and IndiGo (1.0). The DGCA said all complaints received during the month had been resolved. Baggage-related issues accounted for the largest share of complaints at 27.8 per cent, followed by flight-related problems (24.3 per cent), refunds (19.7 per cent) and customer service issues (5.4 per cent).
The report also showed airlines provided compensation and passenger assistance in cases of denied boarding, cancellations and long flight delays. During June, 1,847 passengers were affected by denied boarding, 43,968 passengers by flight cancellations and 1,10,273 passengers by delays exceeding two hours. Airlines spent nearly Rs 411.43 lakh on compensation and passenger facilitation across these categories.
