India domestic air traffic declines 6.34%; IndiGo share falls, Air India gains

India’s domestic air passenger traffic fell 6.34% year-on-year to 121.26 lakh in August 2026, according to data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Wednesday, PTI reported.

Domestic airlines had carried 129.47 lakh passengers in August 2025.

The decline in August also pulled down the year-to-date traffic slightly. Between January and August 2026, domestic airlines carried 1,105.30 lakh passengers, compared with 1,107.26 lakh in the corresponding period last year, marking an annual decline of 0.18%.

The DGCA said the monthly growth rate for August 2026 compared with August 2025 stood at-6.34%.

IndiGo market share falls

IndiGo’s share of the domestic aviation market declined to 65% in August from 67.4% in July, a sequential drop of 2.4 percentage points, according to the DGCA data.

SpiceJet, which is facing a crisis, also saw its market share fall to 1.2% from 1.6% in July.

In contrast, Air India Group increased its market share to 26.7% in August, up 2.7 percentage points from July.

Akasa Air’s market share remained unchanged at 5.5% during the month.

IndiGo leads on-time performance

IndiGo recorded the highest On Time Performance (OTP) among scheduled domestic airlines at the 10 major airports in August, with a score of 91.5%.

Akasa Air followed with an OTP of 90.5%, while Air India Group recorded 83.9%.

The overall cancellation rate for scheduled domestic airlines stood at 1.39% in August.