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New Delhi: IndiGo, India's largest airline, witnessed a turbulent month this year with thousands of its flights cancelled and passengers stranded at major airports across the country for several days. However, the fiasco -- one of the worst aviation crisis in recent years -- could not stop IndiGo from emerging as the country's only major profitable airline, according to government data tabled in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
The data was presented in Parliament at a time IndiGo, which controls more than 60 per cent of the domestic market, has been hit by an operational crisis that forced the airline to cancel more than 2,000 flights over a week. The airline attributed the mass flight cancellations to a pilot shortage that it said was triggered by several factors, including the new pilot duty norms. The flight disruptions led to huge chaos at several airports across the country and caused inconvenience to hundreds of passengers.
IndiGo dominates as aviation industry drowns in losses
The Ministry of Civil Aviation, in a written reply, stated that while India's aviation sector is largely a loss-making business currently, IndiGo is the only major airline in India to post a profit in the financial year 2024-25, earning Rs 7,253 crore.
According to the data presented by the ministry, Air India reported a loss of Rs 3,976 crore, Air India Express Rs 5,832 crore, Akasa Air Rs 1,986 crore, and Alliance Air Rs 691 crore in the financial year 2024-25. SpiceJet, one of IndiGo's closest competitors, also suffered a loss of Rs 56 crore while Star Air, a small carrier, posted a modest Rs 68-crore profit.
In 2023-24 financial year, IndiGo earned a profit of Rs 8,167 crore, while most other air carriers continued to face losses. Air India lost Rs 4,444 crore and SpiceJet Rs 404 crore in 2023-24.
New players hesitating to enter market
Even though Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu recently said that it is the best time to start an airline, the data is enough to explain why no new players are even trying to enter the market despite rising demand. Domestic passenger traffic saw a huge jump of 16.55 crore flyers from 7.7% in financial year 2024-25, still, the majority of airlines have large amounts of debt and are struggling with high operating costs.
