Aviation data: Domestic passenger traffic in April rises 8.5% YoY, slightly lower than March

India's domestic air traffic in April rose 8.45 percent when compared to the same month last year. The number climbed to 143.16 lakh passengers carried, data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on May 21 shows.

India's domestic air traffic in April rose 8.45 percent when compared to the same month last year. The number climbed to 143.16 lakh passengers carried, data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on May 21 shows.

However, domestic air traffic fell very slightly in April when compared with March 2025's reading which stood at 145.42 lakh passengers as domestic air traffic was disrupted in the northern and western states in India following the terrorist attack on tourists at Pahalgam on April 22 that left at least 26 dead and wounded many others injured.

IndiGo was the most punctual airline operating in India for the fifth straight month in a row after overtaking Akasa Air in March, data from the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation showed.

IndiGo turned in an on-time performance (OTP) of 80 percent at the four metro airports – New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Akasa Air and the Air India Group were second and third, followed by Alliance Air.

On-time performance of airlines rose in March after heavy fog forced flight delays throughout December, January, and February, but dipped again in April due flight disruptions caused by the India-Pakistan military conflict and disruption of flight operations at Delhi International Airport Ltd (Ltd) after April 20 due to the temporary closure of Runway 10/28.

The Air India Group, Akasa Air, IndiGo and Spicejet reported an OTP of less than 69 percent at DIAL in April 2025.

Cancellation factor

The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for April 2025 stood at 0.64 percent, around 8 basis points higher than the 0.56 percent in March but lower than the 0.65 percent seen in February and 1.62 percent seen in January.

Flybig, a regional airline based in Gurugram (Haryana), recorded the highest cancellation rate of 36 percent in April 2025.

Alliance Air had the second-highest cancellation rate at 4.97 percent and Spicejet was third at 1.53 percent. IndiGo, the Air India Group and Akasa Air recorded cancellation rate of 0.46 percent, 0.27 percent and 0.02 percent, respectively.

Weather was the biggest reason for cancellation of flights in April 2025 with 38.8 percent of all flights last month being cancelled due to weather issues. Technical, operational and miscellaneous factors were the other big reason for flight cancellations in April 2025 have a contributed to 25.8 percent, 22.3 percent, and 11.7 percent of cancellations, respectively.

Complaints

During April 2025, a total of 910 passenger-related complaints were received by scheduled domestic airlines. The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried for April has been around 0.64.

The major reasons for complaints are flight problem-related. Airlines have received a total of 910 complaints of which 910 (approximately 100 percent) have been addressed.

The aviation pie

The market share of India's largest airline, IndiGo, rose 10 basis points in April, after shedding 150 basis points in February 2025. The airline's market share is now 64.1 percent, with the low-cost carrier flying 91.72 lakh passengers in April.

One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.

The Air India group remained the second-largest domestic carrier in April and garnered a market share of 27.2 percent, flying 38.9 lakh passengers during the period.

SpiceJet's market share in April was 2.6 percent falling 70 basis points when compared to March. The airline carried 3.79 lakh passengers. The airline's market share has fallen from a peak market share of 10.7 percent in February 2022.

Akasa Air remained ahead of SpiceJet carrying 7.13 lakh passengers in April for a market share of 5 percent unchanged from March.

The passenger load factor, or the occupancy rate, of SpiceJet, IndiGo, Air India Group, and Akasa Air stood at 86.0 percent, 86.9 percent, 83.3 percent, and 93.0 percent, respectively, in April.

Delays and compensations

According to the DGCA data, a total of 925 passengers were denied boarding in April and an amount of Rs 72.90 lakhs was spent by the airlines as compensation and facilities.

In the cancellations category, 20,840 passengers were impacted and Rs 41.69 lakhs was spent by the carriers as compensation and facilities.

Around 96,350 passengers were impacted by flight delays in April 2025 and received compensation of Rs 188.51 lakhs.