In Charts: Indians Quit Aviation Like Never Before

Wear it

Domestic passenger air traffic in India has been under severe pressure for the past 15 months, declining year-on-year in 10 of them. Most of the decline in 2025, in four of the six months, was attributed to heavy rains, limited capacity, subdued business sentiment amid global uncertainty and IndiGo flight cancellations. Declines in six of the nine months in 2026 were mainly driven by rising airfares following a sharp rise in fuel prices due to War in West Asia. The result of the reverse decline is that domestic air passenger numbers are very close to the pre-pandemic levels of 2019, erasing the gains seen in 2023 in the first half of 2025. Simply put, if 100 passengers traveled in 2019, only 126.6 passengers traveled in June 2019, a decline to 2026 in 2026. 101.1 in July 2026 before recovering somewhat to 103.1 in August 2026 and 102.9 in September 2026. The levels recorded in July-September are worse than three years ago.