IndiGo Holds Its Ground as Indian Airlines Cut Capacity in September

India’s airlines had fewer seats on offer this September than they did a year ago, but the cuts have hardly changed who controls the market. 

Invest in Indian Markets and Unlock Future Potential With 5paisa!

Open Account Now

IndiGo remained comfortably ahead, with 11.3 million seats scheduled for the month and more than 50% of the country’s airline capacity. This came even as the carrier reduced capacity by 4.5% from September 2025, taking 525,600 seats out of its schedule, according to OAG data. 

The gap with Air India remained wide. The Tata Group airline had 3.2 million seats, giving it a 14% share of the market. It too was operating a smaller schedule than last September, with capacity down 8.8%, or 309,000 seats. 

Air India Express made a smaller cut of 2.6%. 

SpiceJet saw a much steeper change. Its capacity was 45.2% lower than a year ago, amounting to 215,000 fewer seats. 

Akasa Air went against that trend. Its September capacity grew 5%, making it the only Indian airline covered in the data to add seats. Emirates also recorded a marginal 0.3% increase from last year. 

What has not changed is India’s preference for low-cost flying. 

Budget carriers together had 15.7 million seats available in September. That was 4% lower year on year, but still enough to give them 69% of the market. Full-service airlines had 7 million seats, down 5.4%. 

Mumbai-Delhi retains the highest capacity 

On domestic routes, Mumbai-Delhi continued to be the most congested, offering 677,300 seats. Next was Bengaluru-Delhi, followed by Bengaluru-Pune. 

In terms of domestic capacity, Delhi offered the highest capacity at 2.7 million seats in September. Mumbai had 1.7 million seats, while Bengaluru had 1.5 million. 

But see the figures by states and the competition becomes much closer. Delhi provided 3.8 million seats and 20.7% of the Indian market, whereas Maharashtra provided 3.6 million seats and 19.7%. 

UAE stays India’s biggest overseas market 

The UAE continued to see more capacity from India than any other international market, even though the number of seats fell 5% from last year. 

Airlines had 1.1 million seats available on routes to the UAE in September, accounting for 28% of India’s international market. 

Saudi Arabia was next with a 9% share. Unlike the UAE, it saw capacity increase, rising 12% to 336,000 seats. 

There were sizeable cuts elsewhere in Asia. Thailand fell 23% to 238,000 seats, while capacity to Malaysia and Singapore dropped 13% and 12%, respectively. 

The UK moved the other way. Capacity increased 16% to 200,000 seats, placing it sixth among India’s international markets. 

Italy was smaller in absolute numbers but recorded the biggest percentage jump mentioned in the OAG data. Capacity reached 42,000 seats in September 2026, up 194% from the previous year. 

So while September brought fewer seats at IndiGo, Air India, Air India Express and SpiceJet, it did not bring a reshuffling of India’s aviation market. IndiGo still had more than half of the capacity, low-cost carriers still accounted for more than two-thirds of available seats, and the UAE remained the country’s largest international market.