India's domestic air traffic growth hits 3-year-low this May
What's the story
India's domestic air traffic witnessed a meager month-on-month growth of 1.89% in May 2025, the slowest in over three years. The last time such sluggish growth was seen was back in February 2022 when the traffic had shrunk by 1.68%. The sharp decline comes after months of robust performance with consistent growth rates above 8% since October last year.
Operational disruptions
Impact of India-Pakistan conflict on airlines
The recent military conflict between India and Pakistan has severely impacted operations at 32 airports in border areas. This led to a number of flight cancellations and diversions, directly affecting both growth and passenger load factors across airlines. IndiGo's load factor fell to 85.1% from April's 86.9%, while Air India's dropped to 80.2% and Akasa's eased to 91.4%.
Airline performance
SpiceJet's market share declines further
Despite the operational disruptions, IndiGo managed to maintain its market share at roughly 64.6%, a slight increase from April. However, Air India's share fell to 26.5%. Akasa continued its upward trend, reaching a market share of 5.3%. On the other hand, SpiceJet's market share further declined to 2.4%, continuing its downward trajectory in the industry.