IndiGo cancellations add to demand drag as airfares slide to four-year low
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Mumbai, New Delhi: India’s domestic airfares slid to a four-year low in the October–December quarter, an unusual outcome for a seasonally strong period, as passenger traffic slowed through the year and demand weakened on non-metro routes.
Analysts also pointed to IndiGo’s wave of cancellations in December as a likely added cause. According to analysts at Elara Capital, airfares slipped about 1% in the October-December period from ₹5,485 last year to ₹5,436 in 2025, even as domestic air travel growth slowed sharply to 3% growth in Q3FY26 compared to the same period in FY25, from 9% in Q3FY25 compared to Q3FY24.
According to Gagan Dixit, aviation, chemicals, oil & gas analyst at Elara Capital, this happened because 300 routes (of 400), which carry about a fifth of India's air traffic, saw a 6% decline in fares in the quarter. “This hints at demand-side concerns in the current high airfare environment," Dixit wrote in a report dated 8 January.
“The decline in airfare prices has been seen in non-metro cities more, while prices remained largely flat in the metro cities." Alongside, data from the aviation regulator—Directorate General of Civil Aviation—showed domestic air traffic declining across successive quarters in 2025, from 43.2 million in January-March, to 42 million in April-June and 38.2 million in the July-September period. Data for October-December is yet to be released by DGCA.
The drop in fares came despite the four major airlines—IndiGo, Tata-backed Air India group, Akasa Air and SpiceJet—operating a combined 550 aircraft during the quarter, 6% higher than the 518 aircraft operated a year ago. Dixit noted that the industry’s passenger load factor (PLF) of 87% remained flat
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