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Domestic Air Traffic Falls in 2026; August Sees 6.34% Passenger Drop
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CNBC TV18•23-09-2026, 10:35
Domestic Air Traffic Falls in 2026; August Sees 6.34% Passenger Drop
- •Domestic airlines carried 1,105.30 lakh passengers from January to August 2026, a 0.18% decrease compared to the previous year.
- •August passenger traffic dropped 6.34% month-on-month, with 121.26 lakh passengers flown compared to 129.47 lakh in July.
- •IndiGo maintained the largest market share at 65% in August, while Air India Group held 26.7%.
- •Cancellations rose to 1.04% in August, with SpiceJet recording the highest rate at 20.92%; technical issues caused 50.2% of cancellations.
- •Flight delays affected 124,550 passengers, with SpiceJet accounting for 48.05% of delays over two hours; IndiGo had the highest on-time performance at 91.5%.
Key Questions Answered
In August 2026, IndiGo retained the largest domestic market share at 65%, carrying 78.87 lakh passengers. Meanwhile, the Air India Group held a 26.7% market share and carried 32.32 lakh passengers.
SpiceJet recorded the highest cancellation rate among scheduled domestic airlines at 20.92% in August 2026. IndiaOne Air followed with a cancellation rate of 10.60%, while Alliance Air recorded 4.58%.
Technical issues were the primary driver, accounting for 50.2% of cancellations in August 2026. Operational issues made up 20.4%, miscellaneous reasons accounted for 17.4%, weather-related factors stood at 8.5%, and commercial reasons comprised 3.5%.
