Overseas travel outpaces domestic flying as Indian airlines lose share

India’s international air passenger traffic rose a little over 6 per cent to 78.7 million even as the share of Indian carriers in the overseas traffic declined to 44.4 per cent in the year ended March 2026, according to official data.

As per the Handbook on Civil Aviation Statistics for 2025-26 released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), a total of 2,218 aircraft were registered with the regulator as on March 31 this year. While scheduled airlines had 985 planes, the non-scheduled operators had 425 aircraft during the given period. The rest were with governments, private entities and training schools.

In 2025-26, the total air passenger traffic increased 2.7 per cent to 246.1 million compared to the year-ago period when it stood at 239.7 million. Out of the total, domestic air traffic climbed 1.1 per cent to 167.4 million, while international air traffic rose 6.1 per cent to 78.7 million on an annual basis. The figures include departing and arriving passengers in the case of international traffic. “The domestic passenger traffic registered a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.0 per cent during the period 2015-16 to 2025-26 while the international passenger traffic grew at 4.6 per cent (CAGR) during the same period,” the report said.

On the international traffic front, the market share of Indian carriers was 44.4 per cent while that of foreign airlines stood at 55.6 per cent in 2025-26. Indian airlines’ market share of international traffic declined from 45.7 per cent in 2024-25. Out of a total 90 scheduled international operators in India, the top 10 operators accounted for nearly 65 per cent and the top 15 operators accounted for 73.1 per cent of the total international passenger traffic in 2025-26. In terms of outbound international passenger traffic in the last financial year, the report said 51.5 per cent was to Africa and Middle East, 30.4 per cent to Asia Pacific and 13.6 per cent to Europe, the report said.

The report showed that demand was higher than the available capacity in the last financial year. “In the year 2025-26, ASK and RPK in the domestic market registered a positive growth compared to the previous year. “During the year from 2015-16 to 2025-26, the capacity (ASK) in the domestic market grew at a rate of 7.0 per cent (CAGR) while the demand (RPK) grew at 7.3 per cent (CAGR) during the same period,” it said.

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