Domestic air passenger traffic declined by 4.8% year-on-year in July

New Delhi: The domestic air passenger traffic in India declined by 4.8 per cent year-on-year in July 2026, according to data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Scheduled domestic airlines carried around 1.20 crore passengers during the month, compared with nearly 1.26 crore passengers in July last year, it said.

Despite the decline in passenger traffic, airlines maintained healthy seat utilisation during the month.

Akasa Air recorded the highest passenger load factor at 91.9 per cent, followed by SpiceJet at 84.1 per cent, the Air India Group at 83.2 per cent and IndiGo at 82.4 per cent.

IndiGo retained its dominant position in the domestic aviation market, carrying 80.82 lakh passengers in July. The airline accounted for 67.4 per cent of total domestic passenger traffic, significantly ahead of other carriers operating in the market.

The Air India Group, comprising Air India and Air India Express, carried 28.75 lakh passengers during the month and accounted for a combined market share of 24 per cent. Akasa Air carried 6.65 lakh passengers, while its market share stood at 5.5 per cent.

SpiceJet accounted for 1.6 per cent of the domestic market, while Star Air, Fly91, Alliance Air and IndiaOne Air held shares of 0.7 per cent, 0.5 per cent, 0.4 per cent and less than 0.1 per cent respectively. IndiGo and the Air India Group together accounted for more than nine-tenths of domestic passenger traffic during the month.

The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines stood at 0.62 per cent in July, with technical issues accounting for the largest share at 39.9 per cent.

Operational reasons contributed 27.4 per cent of cancellations, while weather-related disruptions accounted for another 22.7 per cent.

Airlines received 2,196 passenger complaints during the month, translating into around 1.83 complaints per 10,000 passengers carried.

The data also showed continued differences in operational performance among domestic carriers.

IndiGo recorded the highest on-time performance among major domestic airlines at the country’s 10 busiest airports, with an OTP of 91.2 per cent. Akasa Air followed at 90.8 per cent, while the Air India Group recorded an OTP of 88.5 per cent.

Alliance Air reported an OTP of 76 per cent, while SpiceJet recorded 34.6 per cent. The figures reflected a significant variation in on-time performance among the major carriers during the month.

Among airports, Chennai recorded the highest overall on-time performance at 96.7 per cent, followed by Bengaluru at 94 per cent and Hyderabad at 92.4 per cent. These airports recorded the strongest OTP figures among the locations covered in the DGCA data.

Reactionary reasons accounted for 65 per cent of all flight delays during July, making them the largest contributor to disruptions. Operational and air traffic control constraints each accounted for 7 per cent of delays, while technical and weather-related factors contributed 6 per cent each.

Passenger-related reasons accounted for 3 per cent of delays, while airport-related factors contributed 2 per cent and ramp-related issues accounted for 1 per cent. Miscellaneous reasons made up the remaining 3 per cent of delays recorded during the month.

The moderation in passenger traffic came amid a seasonal slowdown in air travel and calibrated capacity deployment by airlines. However, relatively strong passenger load factors indicated that available seats continued to see healthy utilisation despite the year-on-year decline in overall traffic. (BVI)