India's Domestic Air Traffic Falls 3.47% In April Amid Demand Slowdown; IndiGo's Market Share Rises To 65% Despite Industry-Wide Decline

Mumbai: India’s domestic aviation sector experienced a notable contraction in April 2026, marking a significant deviation from the steady growth trajectory observed in recent years.

The country's domestic air traffic fell by 3.47% last month. The consistent reduction in air traffic for the last two months has slowed down the country's cumulative air traffic for the year.

According to data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), domestic air traffic fell by 3.47% in April compared to the same period in the previous year.

Indian carriers transported 1.38 crore passengers last month, recording a decline from the 1.43 crore passengers recorded in April 2025. The contraction is seen as a direct effect of the rising prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), which stems from the ongoing conflict in West Asia.

This downturn has served as a drag on the industry's cumulative performance for the first four months of the year. ​For the period of January to April, the total domestic air traffic reached 5.754 crore passengers, marginally higher than the 5.751 crore passengers reported during the corresponding four-month window in 2025. This has effectively left the sector with a negligible year-on-year growth rate of just 0.06%.

​The dip in passenger numbers has exerted downward pressure on the passenger load factor – a critical metric of operational efficiency – for several major Indian airlines.

According to DGCA, major Indian carriers including IndiGo, Air India Group and SpiceJet reported a reduction of 0.95%, 4.6% and 2.5% in the load factor respectively.

On the other hand, regional carriers like Alliance Air, Star Air and IndiaOne Air reported a minor increase in passenger load by 0.8%, 3.7% and 1.9% respectively. Akasa Air also reported a growth of 1.4% while regional airline Fly91 reported a reduction of 5.8%.

Industry observers suggest that these regional operators may be benefiting from specific route incentives or a shift in traveller preference toward secondary and tertiary cities, which remain relatively insulated from the fluctuations impacting the major hubs.

As carriers continue to grapple with varying capacity utilisation levels, the reduced demand has prompted industry analysts to monitor fleet deployment strategies more closely.

Earlier this month, the Air India Group announced that it will reduce frequency on multiple domestic sectors while IndiGo has optimised its operations according to market demand.

The DGCA data highlighted that while most of the airlines suffered due to the decreasing traffic, IndiGo grew in terms of market share, which jumped to 65% for April, up from an average of 63% between January and March.

In April, IndiGo carried 89.7 lakh passengers, whereas other market players, including Air India Group, Akasa Air, SpiceJet, Star Air and Alliance Air carried 34.1 lakh, 5.8 lakh, 3.4 lakh, 0.6 lakh, 0.3 lakh passengers respectively.

​With the first four months of 2026 showing nearly flat growth, the onus now remains on the major carriers to recalibrate their capacity to align with prevailing market demand.

The industry will be looking for signs of a recovery in the forthcoming summer travel months to regain the momentum lost at the start of the second quarter.