India’s international air passenger traffic grows despite airspace closures, conflicts

India’s international air passenger traffic grew 6.1% to 78.7 million in FY-26, up from 74.7 million in 2024-25, according to data provided by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). This came despite geopolitical conflicts and airspace closures, which forced Indian carriers to reroute west-bound flights and, at times, cancel them because of last-minute NOTAMs covering conflict zones.

NOTAMs (notices to airmen) are alerts issued to airspace users about time-sensitive changes, conditions or hazards in an airspace.

Indian airlines accounted for 44.4% of international passenger traffic during the year, while foreign carriers held the remaining 55.6% share, the data showed. IndiGo had the largest share among individual operators at 20.8%, followed by Air India at 12.9%.

Domestic passenger traffic, meanwhile, edged up to 167.4 million in the financial year ending March 2026, a modest 1.1% rise from the previous year.

Overall air passenger growth rose 2.7% at 246.1 million in the financial year 2025-26, compared with 239.7 million passengers flown by all airlines operating in the country in the previous year.

IndiGo continued to account for the largest share of domestic passenger traffic at 63%, followed by Air India at 13.6% and Air India Express at 6.3%.

The DGCA data also said there were a total 11 aircraft accidents in Calendar Year (CY) 2025, up from six in CY 2024. One accident involved a scheduled airline, five involved non-scheduled operators and the remaining five involved flying training institutes.

The number of serious incidents, however, declined from nine in 2024 to six in 2025. Of the six serious incidents recorded in 2025, three involved scheduled operators and three involved foreign operators.

Cargo traffic also registered a sharp increase, the DGCA data revealed, with domestic cargo carried by scheduled airlines rising 24% to 9.78 lakh metric tonnes in FY 26, from 7.89 lakh tonnes in 2024-25. International cargo traffic increased 20.6% to 21.3 lakh tonnes, compared with 17.66 lakh tonnes in the previous year. The international cargo figures include freight only.

Revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), a measure of passenger demand, rose 2.4% to 164.3 billion, while available seat kilometres (ASK) – which measures airline capacity – increased 3.8% to 192.9 billion, the data showed.