From Air India crash to IndiGo meltdown, 5 events that defined Indian aviation in 2025

As the page turned from 2024 to 2025, the mood in Indian aviation was buoyant. The year had recorded the best-ever traffic in the domestic market, and the Kumbh Mela, a once-in-a-lifetime event, was on the horizon. Airlines were already adding flights to Prayagraj, and the January to March quarter was a magic one, setting the tone for the months ahead. The way things started shaping up since then made this year a year to forget for Indian aviation than anything else. The Indian government passed the Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam 2024 in 2025. This is aimed at ensuring better protection to lessors in line with the Cape Town Convention and helping the airlines at the same time.

Kumbh Mela traffic and profitability

The year started on a spiritual note with the Maha Kumbh, a once-in-144-year phenomenon. Airlines added flights to Prayagraj from the nook and corner of the country. Airlines which did not operate to Prayagraj as scheduled service also launched flights for specific periods to make the most of the time.

This helped turn the leaf from loss to profit in the typically challenging January to March quarter and also set the tone for the year to beat the previous year in terms of domestic traffic, until things started changing end-April.

IATA 81st AGM

IATA’s AGM returned to India after four decades with airlines from the world over making India their home for three days. Held at the magnificent Bharat Mandapam, the event was graced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. For a market which is growing rapidly and has over 1,500 planes on order from Airbus and Boeing, the IATA AGM was a moment of pride. It was on the other side of Operation Sindoor, and IndiGo, the sponsor carrier, announced its mega expansion for the financial year along with signing an MoU for adding more A350s to its orderbook.

Crashes — Ahmedabad and Kedarnath

Airlines had geared up for the Summer schedule with all their might. Srinagar was to have the highest flights ever in history, Air India and Air India Express added capacity and utilisation, until a terrorist attack rocked Pahalgam. The impact was severe and not just in tourism. India’s retaliation against the terrorist bases in Pakistan, named Operation Sindoor, saw more than 20 airports in the North and West region being closed for civil operations for a few days. Pakistan has since closed its airspace for all aircraft operated by and for Indian carriers which has led to IndiGo cancelling many of its flights to Central Asia, though it did link Almaty and Tashkent again, this time from Mumbai. The airspace remains closed even today.

As traffic started making a comeback towards June, with Operation Sindoor behind us, Air India’s flight to London Gatwick from Ahmedabad crashed immediately after take-off, killing all but one on board and many on the ground. This came within days of India hosting a successful IATA AGM and just when things were looking set for the better. The crash, whose investigation is still ongoing, has dealt a major blow to Air India and the Tata group's efforts for a turnaround. The group has already been grappling with delays in turnaround.

Air India’s Dreamliner was not the only crash. Incidents and accidents involving helicopters near Kedarnath became a regular occurrence during the peak months of the Kedarnath Yatra, prompting the regulator to suspend operations as well as increase inspections on such operations.

Rupee weakness

INR 85.79 fetched one USD when the year started. Today, the rupee has depreciated 5% trading at around 90 to a dollar. With each fall, the challenges for airlines go up. India is a market where airlines rely on operational leases and these lease arrangements are dollar-denominated. The lease rentals shoot up exponentially. Additionally, the impact is also due to PDP (Pre-Delivery Payment) for the large orders that the main airlines have placed.

IndiGo’s operational meltdown

Come December, a new high was on the horizon for domestic passenger numbers, but something else was boiling. With FDTL rules changing in November, the domino effect of multiple things hit IndiGo in early December, which led to an operational meltdown for the airline, affecting lakhs of passengers, coinciding with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India and seeing hectic activities from the regulator and ministry, which felt like an afterthought.

Anything else?

Yes! Air India completed its much-delayed revamp of the A320neo fleet, converting all 27 to a three-class configuration, which makes it similar to Vistara’s A320neo. As the year ends, while Air India may not get the two 787-8 in retrofit, it may well get a new 787-9 and IndiGo may close with the XLR in its fleet. The question then is, has 2025 been able to surpass the 2024 domestic traffic? If it has, it has been by a very thin margin.

The author, Ameya Joshi, is an aviation analyst.