Four years under Tata, Air India still in recovery mode. How does it stack up against IndiGo?
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. On 27 January 2022, the government sold its beleaguered airline Air India to the Tata Group. Four years later, the airline is in better shape, on a path of consolidation, growth, and repair.
Yet the pace of that turnaround, amid generally favourable industry conditions, has fallen short of management’s expectations. A key setback was the crash of an Air India international flight in Ahmedabad in June 2025. But even without that tragedy, data shows that Air India and its low-cost subsidiary, Air India Express, have grown more slowly than their main rival, IndiGo, and are far from challenging its dominance.
India’s domestic aviation market has steadily expanded. The year the Tatas acquired Air India was still a recovery period after covid-related shutdowns, but 2023 saw about 152 million passengers on domestic flights, rising to roughly 161 million in 2024. Estimates for 2025 suggest 165-170 million passengers.
Air India Express has steadily gained, crossing a 10% passenger share for the first time in 2025. Air India’s domestic share, however, slipped after cutting frequencies on select routes following the June crash. IndiGo, meanwhile, faced operational challenges due to pilot shortages under new regulations.
A clearer long-term view comes from comparing market share between 2022 and 2024. Over this period, the Air India duo gained 4.2 percentage points, while market leader IndiGo added 5.9 points, on a larger base. The international segment has seen similar trends.
Passenger numbers rose from 28.4 million in 2023 to 32.7 million in 2024, with 2025 expected to reach around 36 million. Indian carriers’ combined market share now stands at roughly 46%. In 2025, following its plane crash,
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