A month before meltdown, IndiGo hit a record high in domestic passenger traffic
IndiGo, India’s largest carrier in terms of fleet and market share, experienced an operational slump in December, with day-to-day sales halving in major metros. This meltdown led to various investigations from the regulator and the ministry to the CCI. The airline’s stay close to the ground was unprecedented for a well-capitalized carrier. The ministry received the report from the regulator but did not make it public. As speculation and facts continue to emerge, the airline recorded its highest passenger numbers ever in domestic skies just a month before the meltdown.
The domestic passenger summary for November released by the regulator DGCA shows that IndiGo’s market share contracted by 2% sequentially from October to November and it had a market share of 63.5% in November. However, the market expanded and IndiGo carried 96.93 lakh passengers in November. This is not only the airline’s highest in 2025 but also higher than the previous best of 96.15 lakh passengers recorded by the airline in December 2024.
IndiGo has increased its domestic tariff significantly, starting with the winter tariff starting October 26, 2025. Although it later ran into trouble, it managed to pull the schedule so high through delays and cancellations that it was able to record its best ever traffic in a month in its history. While IndiGo operated 61,364 domestic flights in October, this number decreased to 59,438 in November. The decrease in flights was offset by an increase in occupancy rates from 82.4% in October to 88.7% in November.
Not Just IndiGo
Air India group also recorded the highest number of passengers on domestic routes in November. The group, comprising two airlines, Air India and express carrier Air India, carried 40.75 lakh passengers with a market share of 26.7%. The previous best for the airline group was 38.9 lakh passengers in April.
The group saw an increase in load factor from 77.3% to 87.5% from October to November. SpiceJet also recorded its best month ever in 2025; Its market share increased from 2.6% to 3.7% from October to November, thanks to 5.6 lakh passengers and capacity increase largely driven by wet-leased aircraft.
What makes him tick?
Interestingly, although Diwali school holidays were spread across the first days of November, this year Diwali was in October and not November. Holidays are a major traffic driver. But now there is traffic beyond the Diwali holidays, and most travel in November and December is now driven by weddings, VFR (Visiting Friends and Relatives) traffic, not just holiday traffic.
Had it not been for IndiGo’s meltdown, the same situation would surely have continued in December. With wedding season in full swing, it’s no surprise that news has emerged stating that newlyweds are attending their receptions via video conferencing and that people are sometimes unable to make it to their own wedding ceremonies.
tail note
At the end of November, the growth rate in domestic skies was 4.26% in the first eleven months of the year. Interestingly, IATA predicts that air travel will grow at twice the rate of GDP. India’s GDP group stood at over 7%. However, the lack of capacity in Indian skies has been a major reason for modest air passenger growth.
Indian carriers have a large number of orders, but have not been able to take delivery of the planes immediately due to production issues or certification issues with interiors and seats, leading to longer waiting times.
Indian domestic aviation was looking for a new peak this December but failed to achieve it.
India ends 2024 with 16.13 crore domestic passengers. The end of November this year saw 15.26 crore domestic passengers in domestic skies. December will record fewer passengers than last December but will definitely be more than 87 lakh passengers, which will make 2025 the best year ever for civil aviation in India, though much below the potential. This will be the third year in a row that the best of previous years has been surpassed.
