India's domestic airlines saw notable growth in passenger traffic in 2024, with a total of 16.13 million passengers carried, reflecting a 6.12% increase compared to 15.20 million passengers in 2023. The growth continued into December, with 1.49 crore passengers traveling, marking an 8.19% rise compared to December 2023. The DGCA’s data indicates an overall upward trajectory in air travel demand, emphasizing India’s position as one of the fastest-growing civil aviation markets in the world.
IndiGo, the market leader, recorded the highest on-time performance (OTP) among major carriers, with a rate of 73.4% in December. This was followed by Air India at 67.6% and Akasa Air at 62.7%. OTP is a key metric for assessing airline punctuality, and the data for the month reflects varying levels of performance across different airlines operating at four major metro airports—Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.
The cancellation rate for domestic airlines was 1.07% in December 2024, with 67,622 passengers affected. SpiceJet had the highest cancellation rate among larger carriers, standing at 1.81%, while IndiGo followed with 1.17%. The overall cancellation rate was relatively low but higher than the industry standard in previous years. Regional airlines experienced much higher cancellation rates. Fly Big, for example, reported a cancellation rate of 19.23%, followed by Alliance Air at 4.35% and IndiaOne Air at 2.83%. The primary reasons for these cancellations were categorized as miscellaneous (27.2%), weather (27.2%), technical issues (20.8%), operational problems (6.4%), and commercial issues (1.3%).
Flight delays also had a significant impact on passengers. In December, 2,79,985 passengers were affected by delays, with airlines spending Rs 3.78 crore on facilitation measures. Cancellations and delays have led airlines to focus more on operational improvements. For example, airlines spent Rs 1.26 crore on compensating passengers affected by cancellations. In total, 2,147 passengers were denied boarding in December, with airlines spending Rs 1.76 crore on compensation and additional services.
In terms of customer service, a total of 817 complaints were filed by passengers in December 2024. The complaint rate stood at 0.55 complaints per 10,000 passengers. Fly Big, SpiceJet, and Alliance Air had the highest complaint volumes, primarily concerning baggage handling (25.8%), refunds (21.3%), and customer service (7.7%). While the volume of complaints remains relatively low compared to the total number of passengers, the airline industry faces increasing pressure to address these issues in light of growing demand.