February Aviation Data: IndiGo most punctual; domestic traffic up 11% on-year

Domestic air traffic rose 11 percent year on year to 14.04 million passengers, according to data released by the DGCA. Fewer people flew in February than in January when passenger traffic stood at 14.61 million.

IndiGo was the most punctual airline operating in India in February 2025, for the third straight month in a row, data from the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation showed.

IndiGo turned in an on-time performance of 80.2 percent at the four metro airports – New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Akasa Air and the Air India Group were second and third respectively, followed by Spicejet. On-time performance of airlines rose in February after heavy fog forced flight delays throughout December and January. Punctuality rose by 2-5 percent from January.

Domestic air traffic rose 11 percent year-on-year to 14.04 million passengers, according to data released by the DGCA. Fewer people flew in February than in January when passenger traffic stood at 14.61 million.

Cancellation factor

The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for February 2025 stood at 0.63 percent lower from 0.90 percent in February 2024.

Flybig, a regional airline based in Gurugram (Haryana), recorded the highest cancellation rate of 58.1 percent. Alliance Air had the second-highest cancellation rate at 4.4 percent and Indiaone Air was third at 2.55 percent.

SpiceJet had a cancellation factor of 1.4 percent, while IndiGo, Akasa Air and the Air India Group recorded cancellation rate of 0.31 percent, 0.32 percent and 0.14 percent, respectively.

Among the reasons behind cancellations, the technical disruptions remained the paramount factor with a share of 42.4 percent followed by operational, weather and miscellaneous factors at 29.8 percent, 21.6 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively.

Complaints

During February 2025, a total of 821 passenger-related complaints were received by scheduled domestic airlines, slightly higher than the 791 complaints received during the month in 2024. The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried for February 2025 has been around 0.58.

The major reasons for complaints are flight problem-related. Airlines have received a total of 821 complaints of which 820 (approximately 99 percent) have been addressed.

The aviation pie

The market share of India's largest airline, IndiGo, shrunk 150 basis points in February, after rising 80 basis points in January 2025. The airline's market share is now 63.7 percent, with the low-cost carrier flying 89.40 lakh passengers in February.

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

The Air India group remained the second-largest domestic carrier in February and garnered a market share of 27.3 percent, flying 38.3 lakh passengers during the period.

Akasa Air carried 6.58 lakh passengers in February for a market share of 4.5 percent changed from January.

SpiceJet's market share in February was 3.2 percent unchanged from January. The airline carried 6.59 passengers. The airline's market share has fallen from a peak market share of 10.7 percent in February 2022.

The passenger load factor, or the occupancy rate, of SpiceJet, IndiGo, Air India, and Akasa Air stood at 91.2 percent, 91.7 percent, 87.2 percent, and 95.1 percent, respectively, in February.

Delays and compensations

According to the DGCA data, a total of 1,744  passengers were denied boarding and an amount of Rs 128.36 lakhs was spent by the airlines as compensation and facilities.

In the cancellations category, 18,717 passengers were impacted and Rs 24.86 lakhs was spent by the carriers as compensation and facilities.

Around 82,506 passengers were impacted by flight delays in February 2025 and received compensation of Rs 124.44 lakhs.