A year of turbulence behind, a year of repair ahead for India’s top airlines

Dear reader, as 2025, a year of global tumult and volatility, rolled by, Mint's reporters and columnists looked around the corner on what is coming in 2026—to help you know what to expect and prepare for it. Tell us what you think at [email protected].Mumbai: The past 12 months have likely been the most challenging yet for the chief executive officers (CEOs) of India’s two largest airlines, IndiGo and Air India, which together control about 91% of the country’s aviation market.In September 2022, Tata Sons appointed Campbell Wilson as CEO of Air India to revive the debt-laden carrier it had acquired from the government earlier that year, under a five-year phased transformation plan.

That effort suffered a blow in June 2025, when flight AI171 from Ahmedabad to London crashed seconds after take-off, killing more than 240 people.Later, Wilson acknowledged that 2025 had been an “exceptionally difficult year.” The challenges ranged from the June crash to the financial fallout of a month-long airspace closure by Pakistan after an Islamabad-sponsored terror attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, on 22 April. This forced Air India to operate longer, circuitous routes over the Arabian Sea.

In October, Campbell said the airspace closure could have cost the airline up to ₹4,000 crore if it continued for a year.Four months before Wilson started in his new role with Air India, InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, which runs India’s largest airline IndiGo, hired Pieter Elbers to ramp up operations and expand internationally. Poor preparedness in implementing Flight Duty Time Limitations—aviation safety rules designed to prevent fatigue by ensuring longer rest periods for pilots and crew—led to hundreds of flight cancellations, severely inconveniencing