New Delhi: India's domestic air passenger traffic declined 6.49 per cent in September 2026 on a year-on-year basis, data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) showed, The Hindu BusinessLine reported. Scheduled domestic airlines carried around 1.18 crore passengers (yaani about 11.8 million) during September, compared with around 1.26 crore passengers in the corresponding period of last year.

Source: The Hindu BusinessLine

For the January-September 2026 period, domestic airlines carried around 12.24 crore passengers, compared with around 12.34 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year — a decline of 0.82 per cent. On a sequential basis, airlines carried around 1.21 crore passengers in August and around 1.20 crore in July, the BusinessLine report said.

Source: The Hindu BusinessLine

According to industry insiders cited by BusinessLine, a traditionally weak travel period, along with high airfares and capacity constraints, led to the decline. The IndUS Business Journal, reporting the same DGCA release, said IndiGo and the Air India Group together controlled more than 92 per cent of India's domestic passenger market in September.

Source: IndUS Business Journal

65.4%IndiGo market share — 77.30 lakh passengers
26.8%Air India Group share — 31.65 lakh passengers
5.6%Akasa Air share — 6.64 lakh passengers
88.1%Akasa Air passenger load factor, the highest

IndiGo carried 77.30 lakh passengers for a 65.4 per cent market share, the Air India Group — Air India and Air India Express — carried 31.65 lakh for 26.8 per cent, and Akasa Air carried 6.64 lakh for 5.6 per cent. Star Air accounted for 0.7 per cent, SpiceJet 0.6 per cent, Fly91 0.5 per cent and Alliance Air 0.4 per cent, BusinessLine reported. On load factor, Akasa Air recorded the highest at 88.1 per cent, followed by IndiGo at 81.1 per cent, the Air India Group at 79.9 per cent and SpiceJet at 78.8 per cent.