IndiGo loses 4.7% market share in December after huge flight cancellations, DGCA knowledge exhibits | File Pic (Illustration Picture)
Mumbai, Feb 04:IndiGo witnessed a big erosion of its market dominance within the month of December, dropping 4.7% of its market share following a extreme operational turmoil. Information launched by the Directorate Common of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday confirms that the airline’s market share slumped to 59.6% in December, down from 63.6% in November.
Operational turmoil throughout peak season
The operational meltdown, primarily triggered by the airline’s wrestle to adapt to revised Flight Obligation Time Limitations (FDTL) for pilots, led to a cascade of flight cancellations and delays throughout the peak winter journey season. IndiGo, which often instructions a dominant market share of round 64%, recorded cancellations of 5,689 flights within the month.
Sharp fall in passenger numbers
IndiGo often captures round 64–65% market share of home passengers, however the share dropped for the primary time in lengthy months to 59.6% in December because it reported a pointy 12% sequential decline from 96.93 lakh passengers in November to 85.23 lakh in December.
Trade-wide influence
The disaster at IndiGo, which usually accounts for practically two-thirds of the home market, had a cooling impact on your complete trade. Though the variety of home passengers carried by Indian airways in 2025 elevated by 3.48%, reaching 16.69 crore from 16.13 crore throughout the earlier 12 months, analysts consider the figures for the 12 months might have been larger if the IndiGo disaster had not occurred throughout the peak journey season. Month-to-month passenger site visitors in December 2025 was recorded at 1.43 crore towards 1.49 crore within the earlier 12 months, signifying a drop of 4.14%.
“December is traditionally the busiest month for Indian aviation. The contraction in site visitors is a direct results of the capability vacuum created by IndiGo’s operational constraints,” mentioned an aviation analyst.
Over 16 lakh passengers affected
The DGCA report highlights the staggering scale of IndiGo’s disaster, revealing that over 16 lakh passengers had been straight impacted by the airline’s service failures in a single month. This contains 9.82 lakh passengers affected as a consequence of flight cancellations, 6.39 lakh affected as a consequence of delays of over two hours, whereas 24 passengers had been denied boarding. In whole, 10.46 lakh passengers throughout airways had been affected by cancellations, 8.34 lakh by delays and a couple of,050 by denied boarding within the month of December.
Compensation and passenger care
Whereas the airline spent over Rs 22.74 crore on offering alternate flights and refunds for passengers affected as a consequence of cancellations, it solely offered refreshments to passengers affected as a consequence of delays. Alternatively, the Air India Group spent over Rs 2.86 crore on facilitating refreshments and transfers to different airways for passengers affected by delayed flights.
Cancellation charges larger than trade common
IndiGo’s cancellation price for the month stood at 9.65%, considerably larger than the trade common of 6.92%. Whereas IndiaOne Air registered the very best cancellation price at 13.45%, Akasa Air reported the bottom at 0.93%. Airways cited operational causes behind nearly 64% of the cancellations, whereas over 31% had been attributed to weather-related points.
Spike in passenger complaints
The aviation regulator obtained 29 lakh passenger complaints in December, with IndiGo receiving 31.7 complaints per 10,000 passengers, the very best after Alliance Air’s 54.7 per 10,000. Flight-related issues and baggage complaints noticed a steep leap at 60.2% and 28.1%, respectively, throughout the month. The DGCA acknowledged that 99.9% of the complaints had been addressed.
On-time efficiency at metro airports
IndiGo managed to file a good on-time efficiency (OTP) for the month, with a median of 62.7% at six metro airports. Nonetheless, Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Worldwide Airport recorded the bottom OTP amongst metro airports at 48.8%. Notably, IndiGo’s OTP at CSMIA was recorded at 42.3%. Round 64% of the delays had been attributed to reactionary causes by airways.
Additionally Watch:
Rivals achieve as IndiGo scales again
As IndiGo scaled again, rival carriers moved shortly to soak up the displaced demand. The Air India Group was the first beneficiary, seeing its market share climb from 26.7% in November to 29.6% in December. Equally, Akasa Air, SpiceJet, Fly91 and Star Air additionally recorded minor progress.
To get particulars on unique and budget-friendly property offers in Mumbai & surrounding areas, do go to: https://budgetproperties.in/
