India's domestic air passenger traffic declines in Feb amid supply constraints

New Delhi: Indian airlines carried 1.4 crore domestic passengers in February, down from 1.5 crore in January but unchanged from a year earlier, according to data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday, as capacity constraints and softer demand weighed on growth.

Industry experts said lower aircraft availability and weaker travel sentiment weighed on domestic air passenger traffic during the month.

“Travel sentiments have been weaker in February this time. Numbers still do not reflect the impact of the Middle East war. There were fewer planes since some of the carriers had not restored their schedule,” said CA Ranganathan, former member of the Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council, an advisory body set up by the ministry of civil aviation in 2010.

Rating agency Icra, in a March note on the aviation sector, said February 2026 domestic passenger traffic would be around 1.42 crore, compared with an estimated 1.6 crore in January, pointing to a sequential decline largely driven by supply-side constraints.

“The airlines’ capacity deployment in February was 8.8% lower than January 2026,” it said, adding that domestic departures stood at 89,616 during the month.

Icra said India's aviation industry continues to face supply-chain disruptions and engine-related issues involving Pratt & Whitney (P&W) engines supplied to multiple airlines. This resulted in aircraft groundings and operational challenges for carriers.

“Overall, engine failures and supply chain challenges resulted in the grounding of 117 aircraft for select airlines as of February 2026, accounting for 13-15% of the total industry fleet, affecting the overall industry capacity,” it said.

Issues linked to P&W engines have led to repeated aircraft groundings in India since 2023, constraining fleet expansion plans of several carriers.

Indian airlines, including the Air India Group, IndiGo, Akasa Air and SpiceJet collectively operate a fleet of more than 800 aircraft, though some remain grounded due to technical and supply-related issues.

To be sure, domestic air passenger traffic in February last year had spiked due to travel linked to the Kumbh Mela, creating a higher base for comparison this year.

Market share trends

Among airlines, IndiGo continued to dominate the market with a 63.1% share in February, though this was marginally lower than 63.6% in January. IndiGo ceded less than one percentage point space to Air India, the DGCA data showed.

The Tata group-run Air India group increased its share to 27% from 26.5% over the same period.

Akasa Air and SpiceJet maintained their market shares at around 4.9% and 3.9%, respectively, reflecting stable positioning among smaller carriers despite the broader industry challenges.