Market Overview and Traffic Trends

India's domestic aviation sector experienced a contraction in September, with overall passenger traffic falling by 6.49 per cent compared to the previous month. According to data released by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, scheduled domestic airlines ferried 118.23 lakh passengers in September, down from 126.43 lakh in August.

Despite the month-on-month dip, cumulative domestic air traffic for the January-September period stood at 1,223.53 lakh passengers, registering a marginal decline of 0.82 per cent compared to 1,233.70 lakh recorded during the corresponding period last year.

IndiGo firmly retained its position as the country's largest domestic carrier, transporting 77.30 lakh passengers in September and securing a dominant 65.4 per cent market share. Meanwhile, the Air India Group—comprising Air India and Air India Express—carried 31.65 lakh passengers, capturing a combined market share of 26.8 per cent. Akasa Air and SpiceJet accounted for 5.6 per cent and 0.6 per cent of the market, respectively.

Operational Challenges: Cancellations and Delays

The overall flight cancellation rate across all scheduled operators stood at 1.15 per cent in September. SpiceJet reported the highest cancellation rate at 20.29 per cent, followed by Alliance Air at 15.56 per cent. In contrast, major players maintained robust operational reliability; the Air India Group recorded a cancellation rate of 1.76 per cent, IndiGo stood at 0.41 per cent, and Akasa Air registered a minimal 0.05 per cent.

Industry-wide data indicates that technical issues accounted for 37.8 per cent of total cancellations, closely followed by operational reasons at 31.2 per cent and adverse weather conditions at 12.1 per cent. Miscellaneous and commercial factors accounted for the remainder.

Regarding flight delays, approximately 1.19 per cent of all flights were delayed by more than two hours. SpiceJet once again recorded the highest proportion of long delays at 39.36 per cent, followed by Alliance Air at 5.96 per cent. Reactionary delays—primarily caused by the late arrival of aircraft from preceding sectors—accounted for 65 per cent of all reported delays, followed by air traffic control (ATC) restrictions at 9 per cent.

On-Time Performance Leaders

IndiGo and Akasa Air emerged as the frontrunners in On-Time Performance (OTP) across the 10 major airports evaluated in the report. IndiGo registered an impressive OTP of 91.1 per cent, narrowly leading Akasa Air, which recorded 90.8 per cent. The Air India Group achieved an OTP of 81.7 per cent, while Alliance Air stood at 75 per cent and SpiceJet lagged significantly at 16.6 per cent.

Among major airports, Chennai led with the highest OTP at 95.3 per cent, followed by Hyderabad at 92.2 per cent. Ahmedabad and Bengaluru each recorded 91.2 per cent, while the national capital's Delhi airport stood at 82.7 per cent.

Passenger Grievances and Complaints

Scheduled domestic airlines received a total of 2,466 passenger complaints during September, translating to an average grievance rate of 2.09 complaints per 10,000 passengers.

In absolute numbers, the Air India Group logged the highest volume of grievances at 987, followed by IndiGo at 793 and Alliance Air at 371. However, when measured by proportion relative to traffic volume, Alliance Air recorded the highest complaint rate at 75.1 per 10,000 passengers, followed by SpiceJet at 14.3, the Air India Group at 3.1, and IndiGo at 1.0.

An analysis of the nature of grievances revealed that flight-related issues constituted 29.6 per cent of complaints, baggage-related troubles accounted for 22.7 per cent, and refund disputes made up 20.8 per cent of the total.