India’s international air travel fell to a four-year low in March as the West Asia conflict disrupted key routes, with Air India Express emerging as the worst-hit among local carriers.
The low-cost carrier of Air India, which has a heavy exposure to the region, recorded the steepest decline. Its departures plunged 68% to 1,263 in March from 3,928 a year ago. Passenger traffic fell 66% to 169,000 from 496,000, underscoring the airline’s reliance on Gulf routes.
, which has 17 overseas destinations including Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, has not said if it is redeploying under-utilized aircraft on other routes.
International departures at InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, the operator of IndiGo, the country’s largest airline, fell 36% to 5,238 flights in March from 8,231 a year earlier. Passenger traffic declined 37% to 809,000 from 1.28 million.
The airline has cut frequencies on West and Central Asian routes and scaled back some European routes as longer flying times and operational constraints weighed on schedules.
“Numbers clearly reflect the West Asia crises playing out for Indian airlines. Dubai has restricted foreign airlines to one daily flight. Same restrictions or curbs have not been levied by India on carriers based out of Dubai. And this has a pronounced impact on players like Air India Express,” said captain Mohan Ranganathan, an aviation expert and former member of the Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council. “Air India Express is also the hardest hit since over 50% of its international routes cover the Gulf.”
International departures by Indian airlines fell 40% year-on-year to 11,284 in March from 18,502 a year earlier, according to data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Passenger traffic dropped more than 36% over this period, with 1.84 million passengers flying overseas, compared with 2.9 million in March last year.
Lowest since covid era
This marks the lowest level of international operations since overseas air travel from India resumed on 27 March 2022 after covid. The outbreak of war in Iran on 28 February led to widespread airspace closures and operational disruptions across one of the busiest aviation corridors globally.
Routes to the region account for almost half of the international capacity of Indian carriers. Since the conflict began, more than 10,000 flights have been cancelled through April. Daily departures to West Asia have plunged to about 80-90 flights from 300-350 earlier, a senior civil aviation ministry official said. The affected destinations include Dubai, Sharjah, Doha, Riyadh and Dammam.
are also grappling with supply-side constraints and rising costs. Restricted access to West Asia’s airspace and a continuing ban on using Pakistani airspace have forced carriers to take longer, more circuitous routes to destinations in Europe and North America. Jet fuel prices have almost doubled since March, further squeezing margins.
The disruption has kept international airfares elevated and constrained capacity on key routes. Fuel surcharges have gone up for international routes.
Load factors
The has effectively shut or restricted a corridor handling roughly 25% of global international passenger traffic, brokerage Motilal Oswal said in a 25 March note.
“This is not a demand-side shock; load factors on affected routes were healthy before the closure. It is a pure supply-side constraint, driven by airspace access,” Motilal Oswal said.
Tata Group’s Air India, the full-service carrier, reported a comparatively smaller impact on departures and passenger count. Its international departures fell to 4,154 in March from 5,222 a year earlier, while passenger numbers dropped to 779,000 from 965,000, as per DGCA data.
SpiceJet Ltd’s international departures dropped 60% to 300 flights in March from 758 a year earlier. Passenger traffic dropped 65% to 38,000 from 111,000, DGCA data showed.
Akasa Air’s international departures slipped about 10% to 329 flights from 363, while passenger numbers rose 4%. The airline’s load factor improved to about 81% from roughly 70% a year earlier, indicating better capacity utilization despite fewer flights.
Responses from India’s civil aviation ministry and Indian airlines are awaited.