IndiGo, India's largest carrier by fleet and market share, saw an operational meltdown in December where it came to a half at major metros for a day. The meltdown has led to various investigations from the regulator and ministry to CCI getting involved. The near ground stop for the airline was an unprecedented situation for a well capitalised carrier. The ministry has received the report from the regulator but has not made it public. Even as speculation and fact finding continues, the airline recorded its highest ever passenger numbers in domestic skies, just a month before the meltdown.
The November domestic passenger summary declared by the regulator DGCA shows that IndiGo's market share shrunk 2% sequentially from October to November, with a 63.5% market share in November. However the market expanded and IndiGo carried 96.93 lakh passengers in November. This is not only the highest for the airline in 2025, but also higher than its previous best of 96.15 lakh passengers which the airline had recorded in December 2024.
IndiGo substantially increased its domestic schedule starting the winter schedule which began on October 26, 2025. While it did end up in trouble later, it was able to pull off the schedule with delays and cancellations so much so that it could record its best ever traffic in a month in its history. IndiGo operated 61,364 domestic flights in October, while in November this count went down to 59,438. The reduction in flights was compensated by the increase in load factors which went up from 82.4% in October to 88.7% in November.
Not Just IndiGo
Air India group also recorded its highest passengers on the domestic front in November. The group comprising two airlines, Air India and Air India express carrier carried 40.75 lakh passengers with a market share of 26.7%. The previous best for the airline group was 38.9 lakh passengers in April.
The group saw an increase in load factor from 77.3% to 87.5% from October to November. SpiceJet also recorded its best ever month in 2025, with 5.6 lakh passengers and an increase in market share from 2.6% to 3.7% from October to November on the back of capacity induction largely driven by wet-leased planes.
What propelled it?
Interestingly, Diwali this year was in October and not November, though the Diwali school holidays spilled over to early days of November. The holidays are a major traffic driver. However, there is traffic beyond the Diwali holidays now and a lot of travel in November and December is fuelled by weddings, VFR (Visiting Friends and Relatives) traffic and not just holiday traffic any more.
The same was a certainty to continue in December, had it not been for IndiGo’s meltdown. With the wedding season in full force, it is no wonder then that news reports indicated newly wed couples attending their own reception via video conference and people not being able to reach marriage functions, sometimes their own.
Tail note
At the end of November, the growth rate in domestic skies was 4.26% for the first eleven months of the year. Interestingly, IATA estimates air travel to grow twice as much as GDP. Indian GDP group has been above 7%. However, the lack of capacity in Indian skies has been a major reason for the moderate air passenger growth.
Indian carriers have large number of orders placed, but they have not been able to get planes immediately due to issues with production leading to longer wait times or certification issues with interiors and seats.
Indian domestic aviation was looking for a new high this December, but has not been able to crack it.
India closed 2024 with 16.13 crore domestic passengers. At the end of November this year, the domestic skies had seen 15.26 crore domestic passengers. December will record fewer passengers than last December but would certainly be more than 87 lakh passengers, which will make 2025 the best ever year for civil aviation in India, though much below the potential. This will make it the third consecutive year when the previous years best has been surpassed.