Skift Take
There is an overall push in India to enhance air connectivity to smaller regions across the country. An increase in number of airports, increase in disposable income, and heightened interest in travel have given airlines the confidence to invest in expansion of their domestic operations. This is leading to Indians traveling more, domestically and internationally.
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India is now the third-largest domestic aviation market, after the U.S. and China, according to data by aviation analytics firm OAG. In April 2024, India’s domestic airline capacity was about 15.6 million, up from 8 million in April 2014.
Over the past decade, the Indian domestic market grew at an annual rate of 6.9%. The firm studied India, China, U.S., Indonesia, and Brazil, and India is the fastest-growing market, it said.
Factors for India’s Growth: Low-cost carriers accounted for 78.4% of the domestic airline capacity in India in the month of April, the highest of the five markets that OAG studied.
“The LCC sector has been key to driving growth in India’s domestic market. In the last 10 years IndiGo has almost doubled their market share, from 32% of capacity in 2014 to 62% today. Whilst the rest of the market has barely grown, averaging just 0.7% a year, IndiGo has a domestic capacity growth rate of 13.9% annually,” the firm said.
The Air India group accounts for 28% of the capacity. “This means that India’s two largest carriers account for 9 out of 10 airline seats,” OAG said.
Both IndiGo and Air India are expanding their operatio